


Horizon at the End of an Ocean

by professionalpotts



Series: Tony Stark has a Kid Now? [2]
Category: Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Domestic Avengers, Parent Tony Stark, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Precious Peter Parker, Protective Avengers, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Tony Stark Feels
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-02
Updated: 2020-01-27
Packaged: 2020-02-15 20:46:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 21
Words: 55,673
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18677107
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/professionalpotts/pseuds/professionalpotts
Summary: Sequel to my previous story "5 Times Tony Denied Having a Kid." This is a stand-alone, but I suggest reading that first. After May dies, Peter is taken in by Tony Stark. They try to manage their new lives, deal with their relationships with others,and keep their heads above water. Tony, if being honest, has no idea how to raise a teen. Can he do this without screwing everything up?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys! You all seemed like you wanted the sequel, so here it is! Thank you SO much for all of the positive reviews. This first chapter is pretty much just a summary of the important parts from my previous story, so if you have read that already, you can go ahead and skip this chapter. If you haven't already seen this, enjoy!

Bzzzt. Bzzzt. Bzzzt.

Tony groggily awoke from an impromptu nap on the uncomfortable table in his lab. It had been a late night, and he must have dozed off while he was waiting for the suit diagnostics. He had been spending a lot of time recently with Peter, and he had been working on a lot of new ideas for both of their suits. The kid was brilliant. Recently, the kid has been at the compound or the tower every weekend, and they had grown pretty close. People had called Tony Stark many things, but up until recently, "fatherly" had not been one of them. He still didn't see it.

Bzzzt. Bzzzt. Bzzzt.

He tiredly fumbled for his phone that was vibrating on the table next to him, almost knocking it onto the floor. He composed himself a little more, and fake cheerfully answered, "Tony Stark here."

"Mr. Stark," the lady on the other end acknowledged him. "There has been a car accident involving May and Peter Parker and they are both currently at NYC Health in Queens, and as you are the emergency contact for Mr. Parker, we would like you to come down as soon as possible."

She didn't need to ask him twice. He clumsily ran up the stairs, grabbed his coat, wallet, and keys, and was in a car in record speed. He didn't even care that he was in the same t-shirt and jeans as yesterday. "I am on my way, thank you." He told her, trying to mask his utter panic.

"I can meet you on the fourth floor nurse's station to discuss what to do." She hung up leaving him to his thoughts.

There are so many things that could go wrong. The doctors could figure out Peter's identity because of his speedy healing. They both could die. Peter could die. May could die, and Peter would not have a single other living relative. Peter could die. If you had told him he would be this freaked out over a kid a year ago, he wouldn't have believed you. But after getting to know the spider kid… he really has a way of webbing his way into your heart. From late nights in the lab, to ice-cream trips after school, or that time when Tony helped Peter tell his school bully where he could stick his lame-ass insults, they had become pretty close. He started to actually panic, before he managed to talk himself into slow breaths. In. Out. In. Out. He thought about what to do. First priority of business, other than actually getting to the hospital (he was still 14 minutes away, which was way too far away) was to deal with the identity. He could call Helen Cho and make her the lead doctor on his case. That could work. She could bring her team and they have already signed a nondisclosure agreement and know the Avengers well, so that would be fine. 

By the time he finished talking to Dr. Cho, he had arrived. He practically sprinted up the stairs and to the area where the woman said to meet. A tall blonde lady was standing there, looking very professional and put together. Polar opposite to Tony's frantic shit show.

"Hello, Mr. Stark. My name is Mrs. Lauren Vance. Here is what is going on. The Parkers were driving through the intersection on 22nd and 43rd when they got into a broadside crash, also known as a 'T-Bone Accident' and their car was flipped. May Parker is currently in surgery due to a large tear in her abdomen because of the broken car door, but she also has large internal bleeding and possible brain damage. Peter Parker just got out of surgery setting his fibula and collar bone. He may also have internal issues, but we will not know until the scan results are back. We received a faxed request from your personal doctor who insists on taking over the Parker's care, so if you could just sign here, we can switch the staff. Now, there is a matter of-"

Tony was impatient, so he interjected, "Can I see him?"

"Excuse me?" The lady looked a little taken aback by his sudden outburst.

"Can I see Peter?" He repeated again, calmer.

"Well, he is currently in the ICU, which only allows immediate family. Are you directly related to him? You have to wait until he is out of the ICU unless you are his father or-"

"Yes, he is my kid, for god's sakes! Let me see him!" There, he finally went with it. Peter was his kid. The lady was seeming to be a little weary of his explosive actions, but she must have been used to this sort of thing in her line of work.

She led him to Peter's room, and the kid looked terrible. He had tubes coming out of his nose and mouth, multiple needles inserted into his arm, so many bruises littered his body, and there was blood caked in his hair."Oh, Pete." He whispered, before sliding into a chair by his bed and scooting it up next to him.

He sat there for a few minutes, his head leaning on the palms of his hands, and his elbows resting on his knees. It was silent, before he finally spoke to Mrs. Vance. "Okay, give it to me. All of the information, what you need me to do, everything I need to sign."

"Alright." She talked to him for an hour about all of the logistics and outcomes. Peter was going back into surgery for his brain about two hours from the time she finished talking, to give his brain time for the swelling to go down.

When they came and got him, he decided he couldn't take sitting in the practically empty waiting room by himself for hours. He picked up the phone. "Pep," he called his fiancé. "I need you."

She arrived an hour later. They sat in the waiting room until Peter was stable enough for the couple to be in there. Tony sat right next to him like last time, but this time, Pepper was with him. It was a while before Peter finally opened his eyes, but to Tony, if was worth every second of the wait.

"Hey, kid." He spoke softly. "How do you feel?"

He took a deep breath before replying, "like shit," his voice quiet and raspy.

"Hey, language." He smirked, and Peter smiled back.

"How did they let you in here?" He asked Tony, slightly confused.

Tony gave him a mischievous grin and leaned in close, "If anyone asks, you're my kid."

About a week later, Peter was at the compound. They managed to fix his brain in about two hours, as it was pretty minor, and his bones mended quickly. He yawned and stretched out across the couch like a cat. It had been a long night working in the lab, and he ended up falling asleep in his chair. He wasn't sure how he ended up here, though.

"Hey, Friday?" He asked the AI, "How did I end up here?"

"At approximately 2:32 am, Sir moved you to the couch and draped the blanket over you." Her robotic voice replied.

Peter was perplexed, "he moved me?"

"Yes, Mr. Parker. Would you like to see the footage?" FRIDAY offered.

"Sure." A hologram appeared in front of him. Tony was hard at work on his new nanotechnology with his ACDC blasting in the back. Tony turned to see that Peter had fallen asleep in the chair, his head drooped back at an awkward angle. "FRIDAY, turn off the music." The sound died out, and Tony walked over to Peter, carefully lifting him out of the chair and onto the couch behind him. "Huh. He's pretty light for a 15 year old. I should feed him more." He turned around and kept working, but this time with the sound of Peter's soft snores providing sound as opposed to the rock that was playing before.

Peter couldn't help but smile, a mix of embarrassment and happiness displayed on his face.

"In case you were wondering, Sir is upstairs. I suggest you join him, as he is attempting to make breakfast, which is not a task he is skilled at."Peter chuckled and headed up the stairs. FRIDAY's analysis, was putting it lightly. It smelled of burning, there was flour all over the floor, and Tony had milk in his hair.

"Oh, wow," was all Peter could manage to say about the sight in front of him.

"Yeah, I know. I was sitting up here fixing the toaster, and I decided I wanted pancakes. I love pancakes. Anyway, I tried to make them, and it didn't turn out so good."

Peter laughed, and asked him, "did you follow the instructions? The recipe?"

Tony frowned a little. "I followed the instructions. Pepper or Steve usually are the ones cooking, so I didn't know where the measuring stuff was-" "Measuring cups?" "-and so, I just eyeballed it."

"Tony!" Peter gaped, peering into the bowl. "You can't just eyeball it!"

"Why not? It worked before! That looks pretty close!" Tony told him, taken aback.

"Tony." Peter insisted. "It looks like you put about five cups of flour in here."

"I didn't! I only put two in, like the recipe said!" He held up a drinking cup.

"Oh my god. Drinking cups and measuring cups are not the same thing!" Peter yelled, cracking up.

"Well I am sorry nobody taught me how to cook! I pay people for these kinds of things!" Tony yelled back before sighing. "Do you just want to go to that breakfast place by your   
apartment? Waffle House or something? I know you mentioned you needed more clothes from your apartment anyway."

"Well, I thought May was going to be in the ICU for two more days, not five! But anyway, I do need some clothes and that place sounds great."

Peter had been staying with Tony for a few days while May was still recovering. Thanks to Peter's less extensive injuries and his healing factor, he was back to normal after a little over a week. May still had a few complications so they were monitoring her, but they were told that unless something drastic happens, she should recover.

"Awesome. Are you going to change?" Tony smirked, looking at the Iron Man pajamas Peter was wearing because he lost a bet to Tony.

"Nah, I like these!" He said smiling, like he wasn't wearing them for the sole purpose of embarrassing Tony. "Besides, it is like 8:30, nobody will probably care. Besides, it's Waffle House."

So, they got in the car and headed to go get pancakes from Waffle House, because why not. When they got there, the waiter gave them a smile and directed them to a mostly hidden booth in the back, to the pair's relief. They had just ordered, when Tony got a call.

"Huh, that's weird. This must be pretty important, or it would be directed to Pepper. Do you mind if I take it?" Peter shook his head, so Tony hit accept call. "Hello, Tony Stark."

"Hello Mr. Stark. I am calling to inform you that May Parker has recently suffered from a stroke due to the blood loss. She passed away at 8:23 this morning and you are listed as her only emergency contact. I trust that you can explain this to her relatives and figure out funeral planning. A social worker has been notified to find a place for Peter and she is willing to meet at the hospital where there is some paperwork we need you to complete. My condolences."

Tony went completely numb. May had a stroke? The doctors said she was recovering, and now Peter – oh god Peter –.

"Tony, what is going on?" Peter asked, concerned.

"Um," he struggled to find the right words. "Listen, Peter, something happened."

"Oh no." His face went blank. "Did something happen with my aunt?"

Tony nodded, solemnly. "She had a stroke last night and… passed away."

Peter's mouth slowly fell open and he started to blink back tears. Tony moved to his side of the booth and enveloped him in a hug.

"Hey, Peter, it's okay..." Tony tried to comfort the boy, slowly helped him stand and led him out to the car. "Well, it isn't okay, but we will figure everything out, you hear me? We   
can organize a funeral, something she would love, okay?" Tony paused, frantically trying to think about other things the kid has to deal with. "Spider-Man can take a quick breather for as long as you need, and maybe some of the Avengers could help out so you don't need to worry about the little guy. It is the beginning of summer, so you don't need to worry about school."

"What about me?" Peter asked softly, his voice cracking. "They're going to put me in a foster home. I don't have any relatives left. It was just me and May." His voice caught on the last word, and Tony squeezed his shoulder in a comforting way, as they slid into the car. They sat there, not yet pulling out.

"Don't even worry about that. You can stay with me." Peter looked up at him taken aback.

"Really? I don't want to be a burden. If you need me to, I can go somewhere else-" He looked down, uneasily.

"Absolutely not." Tony told him. "there is no way you are staying in a foster home when you have people who care about you and can support you here. Don't ever think that."

They rode to the hospital in complete silence, except for Peter's sniffles and almost silent tears. Tony couldn't stand to see the boy that was so chatty and animated minutes ago, now falling apart at the seams.

As soon as they got there, Tony wrapped Peter in another hug, before carefully guiding him inside.

"Okay, Peter. We need to decide what to do with you." The social worker chirped, too perky for her job. "I see that you don't have any relatives and-"

"Peter will be staying with me." Tony deadpanned. "Give me whatever forms you need to sign, whatever lawyers you need me to call, I'll do it. There will be no debate on 'what to do with him.'" He said the last part mockingly, letting the social worker know that what she said was not okay.

"Absolutely, sir. Let me get everything together." She backed away, slightly freaked out.

The next few hours were filled with papers, tears, lawyers, and an unhelpful and insensitive social worker. The poor kid was still in his Iron Man pajamas, looking as small and helpless as Tony had ever seen him. Finally, everything was taken care of and Tony could bring Peter back to the tower. They walked in to find all of the Avengers playing games and chatting like usual.

"Hey, you can go ahead to your room, I'll talk to them." Tony whispered softly to the kid. "I'll come find you when I am done." He practically ran off to his room that he used whenever he stayed here, which left Tony with the confused Avengers.

"Hey guys?" Tony called out to the Avengers lounging in the living room. "Uh… I have a kid now."


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay here is the next chapter! Hopefully I can crank out a new chapter every week, but my updates are sporadic at best, so I apologize. Anyway, here is the next chapter! This one has a bit more detail and was a bit less rushed than the first. :)

Peter laid on his bed, still in his Iron Man pajamas, staring blankly at the ceiling. He watched the fan spin in a slow circle repetitively and tried to ignore how continuously wet his pillow case was getting. Wet with tears. Because his last living relative died. His aunt died. He didn't feel anything but empty.Tony came in a few times since they got here, offering him water, something to eat, if he wanted company, etc. He appreciated it, but for a while he just needed to lay here, in old pajamas, wallowing in self-pity. He could get up an interact with human beings later.

At around 5:30, he decided he should probably take a shower and eat something. He knew if he kept this up much longer, Tony would be worried, and he can't bear to stress out the man even more than he already is, especially after everything he has done – is doing – for him. He took an ice-cold shower to knock himself out of his trance and put on clean clothes – an old band t-shirt he had borrowed from Tony a couple nights ago and some oversized Stark Industries sweatpants.

"Hey, FRIDAY? Where is Tony?" Peter asked softly, his voice cracking a bit because of lack of use for the last few hours paired with crying. He was openly willing to admit he was crying – May had always told him crying was proof you had emotions and a heart, but also that masculinity and stuffing down emotions was bullshit.

"Sir is currently in the living area with Dr. Banner. The other Avengers are training in the facility on the 83rd floor. Would you like me to call any of them?" FRIDAY answered.

"No, thanks Fri."

He shuffled out to the commons room where the two science bros were. He silently went and sat on the couch next to Tony, not seeming relaxed. "Hey, Pete. How are you holding up?" Tony asked softly. "Are you hungry? We were just thinking of ordering some pizza, is that okay with you?"

Peter gave him a small smile, before telling him "pizza sounds good." He was quiet for a minute, before asking hopefully, "is there any way we could get pineapple on it?"

Tony put his hands up in victory before turning to Bruce, "I told you pineapple was good on pizza!" He turned back to Peter, "of course we can have pineapple on the pizza. Capsicle wanted a veggie pizza and Natasha agreed, and apparently Clint is going vegan? I am ordering him a meat lover, because he does this all the time and then gets all pissy because the cheese tastes weird. Bruce, you want cheese, right? So does Sam?" The doctor and Falcon nodded. "Okay. Anyway, I am glad someone here has some common sense about the best kind of pizza."

Peter smiled and couldn't help but be overwhelmingly grateful for the man in front of him. Not only had he taken him in, but he was putting up with his weird behavior and trying his best to make him feel comfortable and supported. He cannot even imagine what would've happened had Tony not been here.

About 15 minutes later, the pizza arrived. Not even one second after Tony placed the pizza box on the counter, the elevators opened, and they could hear the bickering of the other three avengers.

"Clint, the roundhouse kick did not originate in old western movies! I do not even understand where you got that from. They don't even use martial arts!" Natasha complained loudly.

"I didn't say the roundhouse kick, Natasha. I said the roundoff shooting style. Like, ya know," he hummed an old tune that he associated the style with.

Natasha rolled her eyes. "You mean a stand-off? You are an idiot."

Clint opened his mouth to retort, but Steve beat him to it. "Hey guys! The pizza is here!"

They all shut up and headed over to where the other three were.

"Hey, Peter." Steve said to him, grabbing his box of pizza and sliding into a stool at the counter. Natasha and Clint did the same thing as Steve, so they were all in various positions in the kitchen eating their food. Bruce and Steve were in the stools, Natasha pulled up an actual chair, Tony was sitting on the counter with Peter next to him, and Clint was on top of the fridge. It was eerily quiet, so Tony finally broke it.

"So, I know you have been here a lot Peter, but have you seen everything?" Peter shook his head, so Tony continued. "Maybe after, we could all give you a tour. You know, so you can see everything and then also get to know the team a little better."

Peter gave a small smile, "that sounds good, thanks Tony."

"Also," he looked towards the other Avengers. "It's Friday."

"Oh, I totally forgot!" Steve said.

"I call dibs!" Clint called out, before anyone else could.

"What? I was the one who remembered! And you picked last time!" Tony called out.

Peter nudged him with his foot and whispered, "What are you guys talking about?"

"It is tradition that we all watch a movie every Friday night, and Clint wants to pick. You don't have to if you would rather go to bed early, or I can do something else with you. This   
isn't like a mandatory bonding ritual." He smirked at him, but the genuine concern and care in his eyes shone through.

"I'd like to watch the movie with you all, if that is okay." Peter asked, a little embarrassed.

"Of course." He smiled at him.

By the time the discussion of who was picking the movie was over, they had also finished eating, so they started to lead Peter on a tour of all the important floors.

92nd floor: "So," Tony started, "This is the floor with the main kitchen and living area. We spend a lot of time here. Especially Clint, because he doesn't have anything better to do."

91st floor: "Here is where all of our rooms are. I think yours is on the floor below with Tony's, though. If you ever need anything you can come find us here." Steve offered, kindly.

83rd floor: "This is where we train, but you have probably seen this already." Natasha told him, gesturing around to the large room. 

"Get ready to see a lot of the mat, spider kid." Sam smirked.

72nd floor: "Here are the labs, but you definitely knew that." Bruce smiled at him. Peter started to look around at the labs, but everything was a little too familiar, while also being very different, which unsettled Peter. 

Tony seemed to sense his discomfort, so he decided to take them all back up to the main floor to start the movie. Unfortunately, Tony lost the argument, and Clint got to pick the movie.

"I choose… We Bought a Zoo." Clint finally told him. They all shot him weird looks at his totally random movie choice. "What? I like it! Plus, that woman in it looks scarily similar to Natasha." He explained defensively, and they all shook their heads.

They started the movie and Peter subconsciously curled closer to Tony from his spot next to him on the couch. Tony didn't say anything about it, just let the boy cling to him like a koala. A couple of minutes into the movie, Peter started to freak a little bit. The mother in the film had just died, and that hit a lot too close to home for Peter.

"Um, I am going to go to bed." He said abruptly, standing up. He sprinted off to his room before collapsing on his bed. He couldn't help it when the tears started to stream down his face and he felt that emptiness in his chest. He tried to take deep breaths, but he just felt so lonely, even if he was surrounded by people.

He heard a soft knock on his door and looked up to see Tony standing in the door frame. He approached the bed and sat on the edge next to Peter. "Hey, kid," he said softly, rubbing the kids back. He wrapped his arms around him, and just let him cry for a while.

"I really miss her." He finally whispered, his words barely audible. Somehow, Tony caught them.

"Of course, you do, Pete. This isn't something you get over in a day. How about you lay down and try to get some sleep. It has been a long day." Peter nodded and climbed under the covers.

Tony stood up to leave, but Peter whispered, "Could you maybe stay?" He asked hopefully.

"Of course, bud." He sat back down next to him and listened to Peter's light breathing as he slowly drifted off.

This wasn't fair. Nothing about any of this is fair. This kid is fifteen years old for god's sakes. He has already been through so much for somebody his age. Any age, really. First his parents, then his uncle, and now his aunt? Well, Tony would try his hardest not to die on the kid anytime soon.

He stood up and left the room quietly, as not to wake up Peter. He went back downstairs to where all the Avengers were watching the movie, but also waiting to hear how the kid was.

Tony decided that Peter would probably want all this to be private, so he gave them the bare minimum of details, "he will be fine. Eventually. The loss of someone is really hard, you guys should know that." They all nodded solemnly and turned back to the movie. The air was still really tense, so Tony took an ice-cube from Bruce's drink and dropped it down Clint's shirt.

"Tony! I swear to god, you will pay for that!" Clint threatened, throwing popcorn at Tony. All of the Avengers had a little war going on the rest of the movie before it finally ended. After Clint vowing one last time that he was going to make them all pay, they dispersed and went to their respective rooms. Well, all of them except Tony. He had to go check one last time, to make sure Peter was okay.

"Night, kid." He whispered, smiling, before he went into his own room.


	3. Chapter 3

Peter wandered into the kitchen at a time of day where nobody should be functioning. He knew this, but still, here he was. The clock on the oven read 4:28 and Peter sighed, tiredly rubbing his eyes. 

He opened the fridge, looking to see if he could find something to drink – his throat was killing him. The bright light stung his eyes, as it was dark in the kitchen, so his eyes hadn't adjusted to any light. He managed to squint enough to the point where he could still see what was in front of him, but also not give himself a massive headache. He saw a bunch of leftovers with various sticky notes written on them, such as _Touch this and die (Clint and Tony, that means you) -Natasha_ and _Please, please leave my food alone -Bruce_ or _Don't even think about it, asshats -Sam_. He chuckled to himself and reached behind him to grab the last can of Diet Pepsi. 

Normally, he would feel bad about taking the last of anything, but he remembered Tony telling him he bought that soda for him, and that he didn't like Pepsi that much. Well actually he said, "I would never put that Satan juice in my body," but they meant the same thing. 

He carefully pulled out a stool at the counter, making sure that there would be hardly any noise, so he didn't wake up the others. He had just gotten settled, when he remembered something he wanted in the cabinets. He quietly hopped off, slowly opened it, and pulled out a twisty straw. Awesome. He went and got back in the chair, the same way as before, and enjoyed his soda a little bit more.

What a sight he must've been. A teenage boy in oversized clothes with his eyes red with tears, sitting on a stool in the dark, drinking Pepsi out of the can with a twisty straw. He sat there for a while, unmoving and zoned out, until the ding of the elevator startled him.

Steve walked out, looking perky and energized, which was unsettling because it was only five in the morning. He walked over to the fridge and pulled out a protein drink, shaking it while humming an old tune.

"Uh, hey Steve." Peter told him, causing the super-soldier to whip around.

"Oh, hey Peter. Sorry, I didn't see you there." He smiled, a little embarrassed.

"Don't worry about it." Peter smiled back, a little embarrassed as well. The was a period of awkward silence that was killing Peter a little bit. "So… what are you doing up?" He asked Steve.

"Oh, I go for runs every morning." He replied, briefly. "So, you came to Germany with us?" Peter nodded. "You did a good job. Put up a good fight. Shame you fought for the wrong team, though." Peter opened his mouth to defend Tony, but the Captain chuckled, letting Peter know it was just a joke and they slipped back into silence. 

Steve finished his shake and headed out the door, giving Peter a little wave. So, Peter was back to his own comfortable silence, with only the sound of him sipping though the straw.

He felt weirder than before, though. He lives in the tallest tower in New York with the Avengers, and his guardian is Iron Man. His guardian, who isn't May. He had a new life now, that didn't have her in it. That thought gave him that weird pit in his stomach again. He supposed having this new weird life was better than trying to live his old life without her.

He stood up, threw his drink in the trash, and headed back to his room. He figured Tony wouldn't be up for another few hours, and he wasn't looking forward to awkward conversations with the rest of his team. He wasn't sure what to do, so he picked up his phone that he hadn't checked since the morning of the day before. He had 42 texts and 5 missed calls from Ned.

Peter, is everything okay? I just got a really cryptic message from my mom about you.

_Oh my god, I just heard about May, how are you?_

_Where are you? Please don't tell me you are in a foster home._

_Call me as soon as you see this, even if it is in the middle of the night. I need to talk to you._

He was tempted to take him up on his offer, even though it was really early. While his common sense was telling him that it was way too early and that Ned's mom probably wouldn't be thrilled that he was up on the phone at 5:30, he really needed this sense of somewhat normalcy and that Ned was really worried about him. Right as he was about to decide, his phone started to ring with a call from Ned.

"Hi." He told him, trying to hold back the new wave of tears that were threatening to spill.

"Oh my god, Peter. I didn't think you would actually answer! Thank God! I haven't been able to sleep like, at all, because my mom wouldn't tell me what happened to you after Mr. Stark called." Tony called? "I figured there was no harm in calling again, and here you are. I am really worried about you, what is going on?"

"May had a stroke after her final surgery and… she died Ned." He had known this was true, obviously, but somehow telling someone else made it so much more real. 

"Oh, Peter. I am so sorry. Where are you now?" Ned asked, his own voice quivering as well.

"I am staying with Tony. He was my emergency contact and was in charge of stuff for May, so he was the one the hospital called. He took me in." Peter told him, nervous to how his friend would react.

Thankfully, he didn't ask about living with the Avengers. That would've been a little much for him at the moment. "Is this a permanent thing or is he just caring for you in the moment?"

"I'm not sure. Tony said that he was my legal guardian now, but he didn't specify." Peter responded, now a little worried about what Ned said.

"It'll be okay, Peter. And I am always here if you need anything. Except, right now I have to go because I think my mom heard me." Peter smiled a little before hanging up.

He headed back up to the kitchen area to find some food. As soon as the elevator opened, he heard the breaking of a plate and a string of curses that would make any sailor blush. Natasha stood there, chuckling as Tony tried to pick up all the shards of the plate on the floor. "Ok last one- ow, dammit!" Tony threw all the pieces away before finally noticing Peter. "Oh, hey Pete. How are you?"

Peter shrugged, "Fine." He paused before continuing. "I talked to Ned."

Tony smiled at him, "that's good! Is he doing okay? I talked to his mom yesterday, but she didn't tell me much."

Natasha grabbed her bagel out of the toaster and headed to the elevator. Peter was slightly taken aback and confused. Why had Tony talked to the Leeds'? "He was okay, just pretty worried. His mom hadn't told him much, probably because she didn't want to upset him. She's pretty protective. Why did you talk to his mom the other day?"

"You and Ned are best friends, right? He's your 'guy-in-the-chair' or whatever'?" Peter nodded. "I figured they would want to be informed of what happened for their own benefit and for yours."

Peter's mouth fell open slightly. "Thank you." He said, his voice filled with emotion.

"Of course, kid. Are you hungry? I have about five hundred different types of cereal in the pantry, if that sounds good. If not, I have a lot of other stuff too."

"Cereal is fine," he replied simply, heading over to where Tony directed. He scanned the row of about ten cereals with notes similar to what he found in the fridge, until he settled on the Lucky Charms, that luckily didn't have a name on them.

"No offense to them, but why are the Avengers here? They weren't here as much when I came over. I mean, I like them and all, but-"

"It's a lot?" Tony summed up for him.

"Yeah." He sighed, relieved.

"They are going to stay here sometimes, but most of the time they are at the compound. After the Accords and all, they don't really have anywhere to go that isn't here. They are leaving this afternoon, I believe. Don't worry, next week will be much less chaotic." Tony paused for a second, choosing his next words carefully. "Listen, Peter. I was wondering if there was something you wanted to do as a funeral for your aunt. She is being cremated this afternoon, so I was wondering what you were thinking."

Peter paused, thinking over Tony's words. What did he want to do? "Well, Ben is buried at this little cemetery, a little bit outside Queens. Could we put her next to him?" He asked, a little uneasy.

"Absolutely. If you can give me the name of the place, I will get in touch. How soon would you want to do it?"

"Soon?" He asked, unsure. As much as he wanted the closure, did he really want to get rid of her quickly.

"I'll talk to them and see what times we could work out and you can decide. Does that sound okay?" Peter nodded, and Tony walked over to where he had just sat down with his cereal and gave him a hug.

"I have some good news!" Tony suddenly remembered, jumping up. "Pepper gets back from her conference in Japan tonight!" Peter smiled, as he loved Pepper. 

She had Tony's sass mixed with Aunt May's motherly personality, and that made Peter love being around her. And Tony knew this. "She'll be back from the airport around one, and tonight would you be okay with ordering Chinese food or something and just watching movies?" Peter smiled shyly and shook his head. That sounded perfect to him.

Tony found the kid a little while later and said the people at the cemetery could arrange something for them as early as six tonight. Peter decided that six would be alright, so now Tony, Pepper, and he were getting ready to go. 

He decided to keep it just the three of them, as Tony and Pepper had become like family to her, after all of the time they spent bonding over the kid. Besides, May didn't have many other friends. Of course she knew Ned's mom, but they weren't that close.

It was a nice night. The air was warm and there was a light breeze. Peter was a little uncomfortable in the suit he had borrowed from Tony, but other than that, it went as well as he could've hoped. He cried. So did Pepper, and he thinks Tony did too a little, no matter how much the man would deny it. They stayed, even after everything was done.

"Hey, Peter? Pep and I are going to go wait in the car, you can take as long as you need." Tony nodded his head in respect towards the grave, rubbed Peter's shoulder, and then followed his fiancé to the car. Peter crouched down, careful not to mess up the suit, and began to talk.

"Hi, May. How are you doing? Is the afterlife everything you hoped it would be? I hope it is even better than you thought. I'm okay. Obviously, I am not okay right now, but I will be. Eventually. Tony and Pepper are great. I know you had your doubts about Tony at first, and I know those went away a while ago, but I just wanted you to know, you have nothing to worry about. Tell Ben-" his voice caught in his throat, and a few tears slid down his face and onto the dirt below him. "Tell Ben I love him and miss him, and that I am so, so sorry. I love you, May, and I will be back soon."

He picked himself back up, brushed off some of the dirt on his knees, and headed back to the car. The ride was silent, but not uncomfortable. When they got back, just as Tony mentioned, they all changed clothes and headed into the living area to watch movies.

"Hey guys, what do you want?" Tony called from the kitchen, ordering their dinner.

"Noodles!" Peter started.

"Wontons!" Pepper added, causing Peter to grin at her, though it barely reached his eyes.

"Ooh and chicken-" the kid started, before Pepper interrupted with, "with sweet and sour sauce!" They high-fived and smiled at the fact that they had the same taste.

Tony grinned and lovingly rolled his eyes at their dorkiness. He repeated what they said and then called over, "you know this isn't really what food is like in China?"

"Well, yeah, but that doesn't mean it doesn't taste good!" Peter retorted.

"Can't argue with logic." He plopped himself down on the other side of Peter. A couple hours later they were on the third movie of their Star-Wars marathon. The Chinese food boxes were discarded in front of them, Pepper was asleep on the side of the couch, and Peter had switched sides with Tony, and was now laying with his feet up on the arm rest, his head leaning on the billionaire, and a tub of rocky road ice-cream in his hand, intently watching the movie. Tony also had a tub of ice-cream, but his was peanut butter and chocolate instead.

Peter turned his head to look at the people next to him. He couldn't understand why they took him in. Sure, he was Spider-Man. Yes, he spent lots of time here already. But for Tony to become his guardian now? That was such a huge burden on them. He felt a yawn escape his mouth and decided to think about the rest of this tomorrow. For now, he buried his head deeper into Tony's chest and closed his eyes.


	4. Chapter 4

_His Spidey-sense tingled in the back of his head. He looked around briefly, not noticing anything out of the ordinary, but still, there was that annoying little buzz. He turned to look at his aunt and ask her a question, and that was when he saw the problem. He only had time to open his mouth to warn her before the car hit them head on. He felt the feeling of being weightless before the inevitable crash of the car hitting the pavement._

Peter woke up in a cold sweat, his heart racing a million miles an hour. He kept replaying the incident in his mind, whether he wanted to or not. It had been plaguing him since it happened, ever single night and sometimes it would hit him during the day. He didn't tell Tony about it, he couldn't tell Tony about it. Not that there was anything he would be able to do about it anyway. Nightmares weren't new to him. In his line of work, he had his fair share of terrible occurrences that would warrant them, but nothing like this. A fear of a guy in a metal suit is one thing, reliving the death of your aunt is another.

He rolled over and checked his clock, the neon light blinking 5:02. He figured he could get up now, not that he would be able to fall asleep anyway. He stumbled his way to the elevator and took it up to the kitchen. When the elevator doors opened, he saw Tony sitting crisscross-applesauce on the counter, drinking coffee out of a bowl. To say he was shocked was an understatement. Tony seemed surprised to see the kid also but didn't move from his seat.

"Hey, kid. What are you doing up?" He asked, concerned.

"Just woke up early." Peter shrugged, evading the engineers worried glance.

"Coffee?" Tony offered, willing to let the subject drop (for now). "Never mind, you are too young for coffee. Hot chocolate?"

"Sure." Peter replied, hoping up on the stool closest to Tony. "Why are you drinking coffee out of a bowl?"

"We used most of the mugs yesterday and the day before, thanks to Clint's unwillingness to use the same cup twice and Thor's need to break them constantly." Tony explained, shrugging as if this was a normal occurrence. Knowing the people who stay here, it probably was.

Tony hopped off the counter and strode over to the cabinets, pulling out a bowl and some hot chocolate mix. He mixed the milk in and stuck it in the microwave, the loud bang causing Peter to jump. A few minutes later, it was done. Tony plopped the bowl in front of Peter, the drink almost sloshing out over the side. Tony, surprisingly, wasn't done yet, and walked back to the cabinet and pulled out a twisty straw and stuck that in.

Peter grinned at him, "Thanks."

"No problem, kid." Tony smiled back.

"So… why are you up so early?" Peter asked cautiously, not wanting to upset the man.

"I fell asleep in the lab again and I never sleep well in there. Oops." The billionaire smiled cheekily.

Peter laughed, and they fell back into their comfortable silence. Not long later, Pepper walked into the kitchen, her tall heels clicking on the floor. "Good morning, guys. What are you doing up so early? Did you fall asleep in the lab again?" She shot him a glare, to which he responded with a small smile. She shook her head and walked over to them, giving Tony a quick peck and ruffling Peter's hair.

"Hi, Pepper. We are just," Peter gestured to the bowls in front of them, "drinking some coffee and hot chocolate. Would you like some? The bowls aren't as big of an issue as you might think."

Pepper laughed, "thanks Pete, but I have a meeting to get to really soon and just came for a granola bar. Have a good day, you two!" She called over her shoulder as she headed back to the elevator.

"Bye!" They simultaneously called back.

"So, what do you want to do today?" Tony asked him. "I think I have a meeting later tonight, but until then I am free."

Peter thought for a moment, before he was interrupted by a loud creak in the vents. Tony glanced up worriedly before their questions were answered by Clint falling into the kitchen.

"Dude, what the hell? Why are you here! Specifically, in my vents?" Tony yelled at him, falling off his stool.

"What are you talking about? Bruce, Sam, and Steve are the only ones who left for the compound yesterday, Nat and I leave later today. Did you not know that we have been here?" Clint shrugged nonchalantly and headed to the fridge. Tony ran his hands through his hair exasperatedly.

Peter gaped, looked around frantically, and whispered, "Miss Natasha is here too? Where is she?"

"Ha, I'm just messing with you guys, I came back because I left my phone charger. Steve was pissed because he wanted to focus on group training today, so I showed up here early so he didn't go all 'I have the power of Jesus and America on my side' and kick my ass." He pulled out a corn on the cob and started to eat it while casually leaning on the counter.

"Jesus Christ, Legolas, are you trying to give me a heart attack?" Tony sighed.

"That's the plan!" Clint smirked, then headed back to the elevator.

The two collapsed onto chairs, half laughing and half fearing for their lives. "Anyway…"

"Could we maybe get some of my stuff from my apartment?" Peter asked shyly.

"Yeah, of course!" Tony responded, shocked. "What time do you want to go?"

"Whenever is easiest for you." Peter shrugged and hopped off his stool. "I'm going to go take a shower."

As soon as he was out of earshot, Tony called out, "FRIDAY?"

"Yes, Sir?" The AI replied.

"Make a new protocol for Peter." Tony told it. "I want to be alerted whenever he wakes up between the hours of eleven and seven."

"Yes, sir." A few moments passed before FRIDAY alerted him, "Protocol has been set."

"Thanks, FRI." Tony sighed before heading back to his room.

A few hours later, they stood in front of the apartment building. Peter was taking it all in, a bit too afraid to enter. "Do you want me to come up with you or wait down here?" Tony asked him softly.

"Can you wait down here for a few minutes, then come up. I want a minute up there by myself just to… register it all, if that's okay." Peter answered back, quietly.

"Of course, it is. I'll be here in case you need anything for the time being." Tony told him, giving his shoulder a comforting squeeze.

Peter slowly walked up the stairs, deep in thought. When was the last time he was here? Before the accident. It had been about two weeks. He stood in front of the familiar door, hands shaking as he tried to put the key in the lock. The second the door swung open, he was plagued with old memories. He could still smell the lingering scent of May's perfume, he could hear the creaking A/C that May would always comfort him about when he got scared as a child and could practically still see her sitting on the couch asking how his day was. Everything was exactly as they had left it, with an old sweatshirt draped across a chair, a large puzzle out across the table, and a few scattered bills and papers across the counter. He suddenly felt as if he couldn't breathe. Then, he felt a comforting hand on his shoulder, grounding him to the present.  
"Hey, I actually needed to talk to Pepper about something before our meeting, so can you just grab all of the things you need from your room, and we can pack everything else up another day?" Peter knew this wasn't true, Tony said earlier that there was no way he would ditch Peter for anything work related today, other than his actual meeting. He appreciated the lie, however, because it gave Peter a way to not have to deal with all of these memories today, without having to admit how overwhelming even the idea of that was. He figured that was why Tony said it. He seemed to understand.

The pair walked back to his bedroom, Tony carrying a box, so they could get some of his stuff. Peter picked out some of his favorite clothes, old books he loved, his school stuff, etc. He sat on his bed staring blankly at the original version of the Spider-Man suit hanging in his closet. Tony saw his look, and carefully took the suit off the hanger and folded it neatly on the top of the box.

"Ready to go, Spider-Kid?" Tony asked, giving the boy a supportive smile.

Peter nodded, and led them out of the apartment, taking one last look at the messy, but homey little apartment.

Tony didn't get back from his meeting until one am. After the meeting, there was a fundraiser that he had tried to ignore, but since he was already at a meeting with Pepper, he couldn't evade her and escape back home.

He called Peter, apologizing profusely, but the teenager didn't seem to mind and told him to have fun. He didn't. While he used to enjoy drinking, flirting, and spending money, the entire night was spent fake laughing and wishing he was at home watching movies with his kid, rather than listen to greedy business men with ego's the size of Alaska beg him for money. The night couldn't end soon enough.

The second he walked through the doors of the tower, he was ready to collapse. It had been an intense day and he was ready to put on some sweatpants and sleep. Right when he finished putting his sweatpants on, he got an alert from FRIDAY, "Sir, it seems that Mr. Parker has awoken. I suggest you check on him as his heartbeat is extremely elevated."  
Tony, forgetting any exhaustion he previously had, headed down the hall to Peter's room. He opened the door, and saw Peter sitting up, head in his hands, tears streaming down his face.

"Hey, Pete. What's going on?" The billionaire asked, coming to sit on the edge of the bed.

"What? Nothing. It's fine. My phone buzzed, and it woke me up, that's all." He told him, quickly wiping the tears away from his face.

"Hey, hey." He wrapped the boy in a hug in an effort to calm him down. "Seriously, Peter. You can talk to me."

He took a deep breath, "I've been having nightmares. I keep seeing the car crash over, and over again every time I close my eyes."

"Oh, Pete." He hugged the boy closer to his chest, with his face pressed into his curls. He could smell the scent of his sour apple shampoo.

"I have been dealing with it, but tonight, it's just… You weren't here. Which I totally understand, I don't blame you for that at all. It's just- nevermind. It's stupid." He shook his head and turned away, but Tony was unwilling to drop it.

"No, kid. It's okay. You can talk to me. I promise, I won't think any less of you." He pressed gently.

"It's just... I fell asleep knowing you weren't here and tonight…. and it was you driving that car." He started to cry again. "I was losing the last person I had in this entire world and I was going to be completely alone."

"Hey, you aren't alone. I swear I am never going to leave you unless I am super old and my bones crack like pop rocks when I sit down. By then, you'll probably want me gone." And, I know it isn't the same, but if anything happened to me, you still have Pepper. The Avengers are here too, but I know that's different. But I want you to listen to me when I say this – I am not going to leave you if I have any say at all about it. You are staying here with me whether you like it or not."

Peter snuggled in closer to his chest and sighed. "Thank you."

That was how they fell asleep – Tony sitting with his back against the top of the bed and Peter curled up against him.

The next day, they were headed to the compound. Steve had called and asked if he could upgrade some various weapons for a mission the two assassins and he were headed on the next day, and Tony had agreed. Tony wasn't sure if the kid was ready to leave yet and be surrounded by all of them, but Peter had insisted it was okay. So here he stood, facing the compound with him by his side.

"Ready to go in, kid?" Tony asked? He nodded. Peter had been a little clingy and anxious since last night, and it worried him a little bit. Pepper said it was probably just shock and that he would probably get over it, and he believed her, but it was hard to see the kid in so much pain.

They walked in to the little commons room within the compound, where all the Avengers (minus Thor) were. "Hey guys! Your favorite person is here!" He called out entering.

"Yes, he is." Said Natasha. "Hi, Peter." She told the kid, ruffling his hair.

"Ugh, you are all traitors." He told them, collapsing on the couch next to Bruce. Peter immediately went and sat next to him.

Steve brought up the mission and asked for various modifications, all which were easy for Tony to do. He headed to the lab, Peter following right behind him.

"Hey Tony? I am going to go to the bathroom really quick, I'll meet you down there." Peter told him, heading towards the stairs.

"Tony." Steve gave him a look.

"What?" Tony asked, for once not understanding what he did to deserve the look.

"Peter is being pretty clingy." Steve pointed out, like it was obvious.

"Yeah, what's the issue?" Tony asked, still not getting it.

"It's not good! He shouldn't be so attached. He can't just follow you around all the time. How long do you think he will be doing this?" Steve asked him, to prove a point.

"It doesn't matter. He can do this as long as he wants. He just lost his aunt, Steve, the last family member he has. If he wants to cling to me, he can. You don't know anything about him or his situation, other than the bare minimum. So, I would really appreciate it if you would stay out of this." Tony spat at him, bitterly.

"Tony, I-" Steve started.

"Don't." Tony finished.

They headed back to the lab and Tony finished everything needed in a couple of hours, thanks to the help of Peter. On the way back, Peter finally approached the subject.

"I heard what Steve said earlier. You know, super-hearing." He told him.

"Peter, he was so out of line, I don't even want you to think about what that Star-Spangled Bastard said. Okay?"

"Are you sure you don't mind? I can not be so clingy and anxious, it's just I-"

"No, Peter. You are totally fine."

They rode in comfortable silence the rest of the ride, only Tony's music filling the car at a low volume. It was comfortable and regular, which made Peter relax in his seat slightly. Despite the calming atmosphere, Peter still couldn't help but flinch every time a car came too close to them. He wasn't sure if that instinct would ever go away.


	5. Chapter 5

Peter's nightmares became more frequent and worse. It was almost as if the longer he had to sit with the memories, the more stressful and frequent the nightmares were. He was currently sitting crisscross-applesauce on the ceiling in the kitchen having Tony pass him Cheetos while he explained his latest dream.

"And, like always, I wake up a split second before we hit the pavement. I don't understand, I lived it! Why do I need to keep reliving it every night?" He sighed, and a stray tear slid down (or rather up) his face, landing on the counter. He quickly wiped away the trail, cursing himself for getting so emotional again.

"I don't know. Trust me, if I could make nightmares go away, I would. Do you think there is a reason, other than probably a case of PTSD?" He shook his head. "Are you going to try to go to sleep again? You probably should, it is only two am." Peter nodded, and flipped off the ceiling. He gave Tony a quick hug and headed back to his room.

He was suspicious of why Tony always happened to be awake. He suspected Tony had an embarrassingly-named protocol in place, so he could talk to Peter about his nightmares and make him feel better. He hoped that wasn't the case, as he didn't want to inconvenience the man, but either way he was so grateful to the man helping him through it. Even if all he does is listen, it is so much better than waking up, shaking, and trying to talk himself out of a panic attack and fall back asleep. Usually, Tony comes in, comforts him, and leads him to the kitchen to get some sort of comfort food while Peter explains his dream. He listens intently every time, even though it is always the same dream.

Luckily, he managed to fall back asleep and not have another nightmare. He woke up at a reasonable hour and headed down to the kitchen for breakfast. Surprisingly, Cheetos at one am doesn't keep him from feeling hungry. Instead of seeing Tony, he saw Pepper in her pajamas in the kitchen. "Hey, Pepper. What's up?" He asked, heading over to the fridge to pull out some leftover pizza.

"Hey, what gave you the idea you could just have pizza for breakfast?" The kid smiled sheepishly but didn't stop. Pepper rolled her eyes fondly, before answering his question. "For the first time in history, probably, I don't have any meetings today, only paperwork. I get to stay in my pajamas and hang out with you and Tony." She told him, smiling.

She was so much like his aunt, it almost hurt. "That's awesome! I just managed to convince Tony to watch all of the Lord of the Rings movies with me, if you want to join us!" He told her.

"Absolutely." She said, without even thinking about it.

"Oh my god." He looked up at her wide-eyed. "You're a closet nerd!"

She smiled sheepishly, "maybe a little bit."

Peter grinned, "just when I thought you couldn't get any cooler!"

Tony finally entered the kitchen, with huge bags under his eyes, but still grinning nonetheless, which made Peter flinch because of the overwhelming sense of guilt. "Who is cool? It better be me."

"Nope it's me." Pepper said, smiling widely at the genius.

"Pepper is a closet nerd!" He practically cheered.

"Oh yeah, totally." Tony told him, grabbing the last slice of pizza out of the box and tossing it in the trash, much to Pepper's exasperation. "Did you tell her about our marathon?"

"Oh yeah, she's joining." Peter told him.

"Really? You have a paperwork day?" Tony asked, just as excited as Peter.

So, that is where they found themselves two hours later – in the middle of a marathon of the Lord of the Rings movie.

Pepper had just gotten up to go to the bathroom, so Peter figured it would be the best time to talk to the billionaire.

"Do you think Ned could visit sometime soon?" Peter asked hopefully.

It wasn't that he was keeping this from the woman, he just didn't want Tony to shoot him down in front of her. That would seriously embarrass him.

"No." Tony said with a straight face, his eyes still glued to the screen. He continued after a moment, "You are locked in this tower forever, like Rapunzel, with no visitors or escape." He faced the kid and grinned.

"Oh, you're being sarcastic. That wasn't funny." But Peter did have to admit, he was sure his face was priceless.

"Yeah, I am. Of course, you can have your friend over kid. Anytime you want. Just please let me know at least a little bit before?" Tony told him, stuffing another fistful of popcorn into his mouth.

"Tony! Have some manners, please? Seriously, you act like a heathen. Plus, you are a terrible example for Peter." Pepper scolded, entering the room. She gestured to the spider-kid, who froze, because he also was shoving a fistful of popcorn in his mouth. She shook her head, stole the popcorn bowl, and settled back into her chair.

She silenced their protests of being deprived the popcorn by just turning up the movie. That night, after they finished their series, Peter called Ned.

"Hey."

"Hey! How have you been? I haven't talked to you in forever!" Ned exclaimed, talking a million miles per hour.

"Yeah, sorry, I have been a bit busy." That wasn't necessarily the truth, but it was better than confessing it hurt too much to talk to his friend until pretty much this moment. "I have a proposition that may make it up to you."

"Oh, really?" Ned asked, intrigued.

"Yeah. Tony told me I could have you over to the tower whenever you want to come." Peter asked, already smiling in anticipation of the other boy's reaction.

"Um, yeah? That definitely makes up for it! Can I come tomorrow?" Ned asked eagerly, making Peter chuckle.

"I would assume so. I'll say yes, and then call you back if Tony says anything different. Is that okay?" Peter asked, amused.

"Uh, yeah! Totally!" Peter could practically see the huge grin on Ned's face.

"Ok, see you tomorrow!" The teen arachnid told his best friend.

"Bye!" He excitedly replied before hanging up.

"Hey FRIDAY? Where is Tony right now?" Peter called to the AI.

"He is currently in the lab, Mr. Parker." He replied.

"Thanks, FRI." He headed down to the lab, as the AI told him.

He hopped down the stairs, excited, and entered the lab. "Hey, Tony? Ned wanted to come tomorrow, is that okay?"

"Yep." Was Tony's quick reply.

"Pepper and I had talked about getting Thai food for dinner, does that sound good?"

"Ooh, definitely. Let me know when you are leaving." He told him, without looking up.

"Whatcha working on?" Peter asked, trying to catch a glimpse.

"This new technology for Fury." The engineer told him.

Peter sighed and collapsed on the couch. That seemed to get Tony's attention. He spun around in his chair. "Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, why?" Peter asked.

"No reason, you just seemed a little off." Tony shrugged, still focused on the kid.

"Well, I mean, I am feeling a little off, but I don't know how you could possibly tell." Peter told him, a little shocked.

"It's because I know you, kid." Tony smiled at him. "Now what has you upset?"

"You seem tired." Peter told him bluntly.

"I am tired. That doesn't explain anything." Tony gave him a weird look.

"It's because of me." Peter relented.

The older man gave the kid and incredulous look, "What?"

"You have been up with me every single night since I got here to comfort me about my nightmares and you have been really tired recently." He explained.

"Kid, I am going to be honest with you, okay? Your nightmares aren't why I can't sleep. Mine are." Tony admitted, sheepishly.

"You have nightmares?" Peter gave him a wide-eyed look.

Tony chuckled, "Like you wouldn't believe. Most of the time I am already awake by the time FRIDAY lets me know you are."

"Okay." Peter sighed.

"Does that make you feel better?" The billionaire asked, giving him a concerned look.

"A little." He replied.

"Good."

That night, Peter laid in bed, falling asleep. He knew he would have nightmares, he always does, but this one was different. He could feel it.

_It started out the same as always. "May-" Then the car was hit straight on. He felt that now familiar feeling of being weightless and prepared for the car to hit the surface. It did. He felt the felling of the whole car crunching above him, glass shards pouring down like rain, and his shoulder and chest throbbed. "May!" He called out, his voice raw. "May!" He couldn't breathe. He was crushed beneath the collapsed roof of the car and he couldn't move. He couldn't move. "May!" He tried one last time, but it didn't matter. He can't move, and he can't breathe, and everything hurts. He was beginning to feel dizzy and everything went dark._

"May!" He shot up screaming.

Tony tore into his room, sensing how different this was than usual. Peter sat on the bed shaking and sobbing, curled up into a ball.

"Hey, kid, everything is all right." Tony said, trying to comfort the kid.

"I- I have to…" He started struggling to breathe.

"Okay, Peter, deep breaths. How about we go outside, okay? Some fresh air, open sky, that might make you feel better." Tony led the quivering boy out onto the balcony and he immediately seemed to calm down a little. "C'mon just keep breathing."

"It was just…" He seemed to be upsetting himself, so Tony cut in.

"We do not have to talk about this tonight. Okay? You can talk to me in the morning." Peter nodded, still not able to utter more than a few words.

Once Peter seemed more stable and was taking deep breaths, Tony made another suggestion. "I have something that might make you feel a little bit better, as long as you keep it a secret." Peter nodded, so they went back inside and down a few floors. Tony led him through a small maze of hallways and do a random room.

"C'mon in." The room was almost completely bare except for a piano and a few blankets. Tony went over to the basket and pulled out a fuzzy red blanket and offered it to Peter. 

Tony sat on the piano bench and Peter snuggled in next to him, looking confusedly at the man.

He ran his hands almost subconsciously across the keys, as he tried to think of a song. "My mom taught me how to play when I was little. Dad wasn't a huge fan, so I never was that good, but after they died… I just kind of taught myself. Made me feel closer to my mom, I guess." He shrugged, and Peter pulled the blanket around him a little tighter. "Just close your eyes and focus on me, okay?" Peter nodded and closed his eyes. The beginning notes to "Somewhere Only We Know" by Keane. A popular song, but also beautiful on the piano. It seemed to be just what Peter needed. As stressed and frantic as he was before, he seemed at ease now, and possibly asleep. Once that was over, he switched to "A Thousand Years," a couple of slow Disney songs, and some classic piano songs. As much as it calmed Peter down, it helped Tony too. He played for an hour or two, his fingers only slightly cramping.

Luckily, it was three in the morning when Peter woke up, so Tony managed to stay awake the rest of the night, making sure not to bump the kid. He slept peacefully the rest of the night.

The next day, as Peter promised, he didn't say a word about their experience the other night. He knew it was personal and hard for Tony to share, so he respected his wishes. He was really excited about Ned, however, so he managed to brush aside the pain from that night.

The second Ned entered their floor, Tony knew about it.

"Holy shit!" The boy exclaimed from the living room.

"Ned, come on! Be cool!" Peter told him, trying to calm him down.

"Dude, I am in Stark tower! With Tony Stark! How can I possibly be cool at a time like this?" Ned told him, in awe.

"Hi, Ned, right?" Tony asked, finally deciding to enter the scene.

"Oh my god, Tony Stark knows my name." Ned almost fainted.

"Ned!" Peter scoffed, embarrassed.

"Yeah, I do." Tony just laughed. "You hacked my suit, right?"

"Oh my god, Mr. Stark, sir, I am so sorry-" Ned babbled, panicking.

"Don't be. I am sure Peter pressured you into it anyway, am I right?" Peter looked around, fake innocently. "That's what I thought, you hooligan. Hacking into multi-million dollar   
suits. Jesus. Anyway, if you ever want an internship here or a job later, just let me know."

"Oh, that would be awesome, Mr. Stark, sir." Ned said, acting as if this was the best day of his life. It probably was.

"Tony is fine, Ned." The billionaire offered.

"Okay, yes, sure, Tony."

Peter couldn't help but smile at the two interacting. "Anyway, I just got a couple new Lego sets, want to help me build them?" Ned nodded enthusiastically.

They spent the rest of the night building Legos and watching movies with Ned, while Tony occasionally popped in with snacks. When Ned left, Peter was a little upset. It had been   
so nice to have him here and have a little bit of that normalcy back in his life. But he knew he would see Ned again, and it would be easier once he was back in school. Plus, Tony watched another movie with him while they ate ice-cream straight out of the tub.


	6. Chapter 6

The Avengers were back. One day, they each trickled in at different points, and they all ended up there by movie night. Their previous mission had been a success (but was very dangerous), so they were off the hook for a couple weeks. Of course, when they had spare time, they returned to the Tower to bother Tony, which was everybody's favorite past time, so here they all found themselves.

Clint was first, as he loved being at the tower. Of course, he missed his family, but since he had to be in New York for SHIELD, this was the next best thing. He came in like last time – through the vents. He shimmied through and dropped into his room, dropping off his bag, then played video games in the living room. Tony and Peter were in the lab, so they were shocked when they found him, surrounded by snacks, in the middle of an intense round of Mario Kart. "Peach, you will regret the day you were ever born. I am going to rip off all your ugly hair and shove it down your ugly throat!" He screamed at the screen, not caring that this 'Peach' character didn't exist in real life.

Bruce was next. He came in and went to his room to fall asleep, still worn out from the long mission. When he finally did leave his room and head to the kitchen, Peter was completely confused at seeing everybody around the tower, while Tony was kind of getting what was happening. Sometimes the Avengers have the tendency to just show up without notice. "What a day, Tony." Bruce sighed. The Hulk really took it out of him

Then came Thor. He hadn't been on the mission with the rest of them, he just happened to stop by at a point where they were all heading back. He appeared right outside Clint's window, scaring him so bad he screamed like a little girl. The god claimed to them all that Asgard had poor snacks in comparison to the Midgardian delicacy "Poptarts." He thoroughly enjoyed finding the kitchen stocked with his favorites – Cookies n' Cream. "Ah! The mighty snacks have appeared for my enjoyment!" Thor bellowed, downing a whole box in one sitting.

Steve was the fourth one to come in. Unlike the others, he immediately went to find Tony and Peter to make his presence known. They were back in the lab working with a new way to summon the Iron Man suit that might work with the Spider Man suit, too. He told them hello, announced who was currently at the tower, and let him know he could make dinner for the night. They were thrilled. "Glad you appreciate having me here for anything other than food." He knew that wasn't true, but it was fun to hear their mix of protests (Peter) and agreements (Tony).

Natasha came in last. They were all at the table eating dinner, when she just walked in from the balcony, made herself a plate, and sat down in the empty seat next to Steve. They all were a little put-off – how did she get onto the balcony? – but they know it's better not to question her methods. "Hey boys, what's going on?" She was welcomed, especially because she is the one that can really change the dynamic of the whole team (in the best way possible).

Sam didn't come back this time. He had something with his family in Oregon, so he took a leave. For now, it was Tony, Pepper, Peter, and the rest of the original six Avengers. Thor was here for now, but he was leaving sooner than the rest of them and Asgard needed its king, despite how much humans on Earth loved him. He wasn't sure when, or if, the rest of the team was coming. Tony's suspicions were correct, and after a little bit of digging, he found Wanda and Vision vacationing in Scotland. Good for them, but he doubted he wanted to know what was happening up there.

That night became an official movie night, even though it was Wednesday. They sometimes watch movies other days of the week, so why Tony, Clint, and even Steve insisted it was official was beyond the rest of them. Tony sat on the edge of the couch with Peter curled up next to him, much to Steve's disapproval. Then Bruce sat next to Peter, Steve and Natasha were both in chairs, and Clint was perched on the back of the couch behind Bruce. A Wrinkle in Time was displayed on the screen, and they all were deeply invested. Peter insisted on it ("because Oprah!" he exclaimed) but the others were perfectly happy with the choice.

When it ended, everyone except the assassins were asleep, so they distributed blankets for all of them, drew on Tony's face, took some pictures, drew on Steve's face, laughed a lot, then headed to their rooms. The next day, Tony and Steve were very confused about all of the giggles around them, until Tony finally passed a mirror. "Hawkass! You'll pay for this!" At training, maybe Clint's arrows exploded with whipped cream, and maybe they didn't.

The first night he was in his own room after the Avengers came, Peter was stressed. He had fallen asleep in the lab and on the couch, always near Tony. He was afraid that he would have a nightmare and, instead of it being him and Tony talking through it, he would wake up all of the Avengers. That would be mortifying. He stared up at the ceiling blankly, trying his best not to fall asleep. When he started to drift off, he decided to sit up. He began to take in the darkness of his room, the tall ceiling that still wasn't tall enough for him to find comfort, and the loneliness that overcame him. memories of his previous nightmare came back to him and he felt his heartrate beginning to speed up. Against his better judgement, he called out to FRIDAY.

"Hey FRIDAY? Where is Tony right now?" Peter asked the AI.

"Sir is currently in his room." It responded.

"Is he asleep?" He followed up.

"No, Sir is currently watching a movie." FRIDAY told him.

So, Peter, a little embarrassed, wrapped himself in a blanket and headed to Tony's room. His feet were a little cold against the hardwood floors, but he didn't mind. "Hey, Tony?"

"Hey, kid. What's up?" Tony asked concerned, pausing his movie.

"I can't sleep." Peter told him.

"Okay… why is that?" Tony questioned, trying to help him out.

"I'm a little scared, Tony." He admitted, embarrassed. "I don't want to have a nightmare and wake up the rest of the Avengers. So far, Pepper hasn't been here much, but it is also a little different with her. And…" His voice went a little softer, "what if it's the same dream from the other night?"

Tony gestured for Peter to come over to him. "It'll be okay, kid. How about you sit here with me for a while and try to make sure you are calm before you go to sleep. I'm right here, okay?"

Peter did as Tony suggested, curling up in a blanket on the bed, and focusing his attention on the screen. Good Will Hunting. Peter had tried to watch it once with his aunt last year but had fallen asleep in the middle. That is exactly what happened this time too.

Peter woke up in a room that wasn't his own but seemed vaguely familiar. It was Tony's room, Peter remembered, and he remembered falling asleep in here during a movie. He walked out of the room and headed up to the kitchen floor. He grabbed some breakfast and noticed the time on the clock. 10:52. There was no way he slept that late. He hadn't slept in past 8 since well before May died. He couldn't help the huge grin that spread onto his face.

"Hey, FRIDAY? Where is Tony?" Peter called to the ceiling.

"Sir is currently in his lab." The AI replied.

So, Peter headed down to the lab to talk to the man. He sat in the chair near where Tony was working and immediately dove in to help. He and Tony had been working on this same project for a couple of days, so he knew what was going on.

"Hey kid, can you pass me the Phillips with the Bit Load 1?" Peter passed him the screwdriver, then held onto the scrap of metal so Tony could put it in precisely. "Thanks, kid. How did you sleep?"

"The best I have in a long time." Peter admitted, a smile creeping back onto his face.

"Really? What do you think was different?" Tony asked happily, giving the kid a sweet and genuine smile.

"You." Peter admitted, but immediately regretting it. It sounded so stupid and childish.

"Me?" The billionaire looked shock at the fact that he actually was improving the kid.

"Well, I fell asleep next to you in your room, so I don't know… I guess maybe subconsciously it just eased me? I'm not sure, never mind, it was dumb-" Peter trailed off, a little embarrassed.

"Actually, that makes a lot of sense." Tony pondered the idea. "You can come in whenever you need to, okay?"

"Yeah, thanks Tony." Peter gave him a sheepish smile.

"Hey, hope I am not interrupting anything." Steve announced, stepping into the lab and plopping himself onto the couch.

"Nope, you're totally fine." Peter assured him, turning his attention from the machine to the super-soldier.

"Ok, I'm glad. So, what are we talking about?"

"How awesome the kid is. Look at this!" He held up part of the iron band he was working on for calling the suit. "He has helped me work on this so much, and he's only fifteen!   
Most advanced engineers that graduated MIT couldn't figure this stuff out!" The genius turned to Peter, who was blushing profusely, and ruffled the kid's hair, "I'm so proud of you, Pete."

Steve couldn't help but smile at the two. For a split second, Steve could see Howard Stark in the man, other than the obvious fact that this is his child. The same appearance, the same proud attitude towards a kid that wasn't their own; plus, the arrogant yet kind personality and generosity in Tony that also was persistent in Howard. "You are just like him." He told Tony.

"What?" The man seemed confused.

"Howard. I always imagined this was how he would be like as a father. Proud and positive about a child's genius." Steve replied, wistfully.

Peter knew that this whole conversation was about to go downhill. If one thing was made clear about Howard Stark, it was that he was a terrible father. Also, Peter didn't think that Steve necessarily deserved the right to talk to Tony about his father after what happened in Siberia. "Well, sorry Spangles, but he wasn't. He actually was a terrible father, so I have no clue what gave you that impression." Tony told him frowning.

"There's no way." Steve told him, refusing to believe.

"Really? Because he wasn't proud of me or my genius, quite the opposite actually. It seemed like I was never good enough, at least if he compared me to you." He gestured wildly to   
the soldier in front of him. "And he always did."

"Are you sure? You have a pretty big ego 'genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist.'" Steve told him, mockingly. "What if his praise was just never enough for you? I wouldn't find that very hard to believe. Nothing is ever good enough for you."

"Are you serious right now? You weren't there, you have no idea what it was like growing up with Howard. And if you think I act like him when it comes to Peter, just call CPS. I'm actually surprised you haven't called somebody about me, considering how terribly you think I take care of him." Tony spat out bitterly, grabbing his coat and storming out of the lab.

"Tony, wait, I'm sure he didn't mean it and was just upset!" Peter cried out, following him into the elevator.

"That's the thing, Pete. I think he meant every word." He sighed. "I'm going to go out for a while, I'm sure Clint will play video games with you or Nat will train or something. Don't worry, I am not doing anything irrational, just trying to cool off. I promise." He gave the boy a weary smile.

"Ok. Just be back soon, okay?" Peter asked him, a little desperately.

"Of course. It won't be more than two hours." Tony reassured him. "And I will have Happy drive, so you do not need to worry about anything. Just have fun with the rest of the team, okay?"

He nodded, seeming the slightest bit more relaxed. Tony got off the elevator at the garage level, leaving Peter to go up by himself. He had Happy meet him in one of his less flashy cars and they went out on the road.

"Want to talk about it?" Happy questioned.

"Not really." Tony replied shortly, still fuming.

"Where to boss?"

"Queens. Six blocks north of Midtown High." The billionaire sighed and leaned back in his seat.

"Got it. Any particular reason?" The driver pressed, cautiously.

Tony sighed. "Something to do with the kid."

Happy accepting that was all he was going to get, dropped the subject and took Tony to the location he had asked for. A little while later, he found himself in a small little graveyard.

"Um, hi May." He spoke to the grave in front of him, his voice shattering the silence. "Sorry we haven't visited you sooner, but I just think Peter is still struggling a lot. He misses you, you know." He brushed a stray tear of his cheek and squatted down in the grass. "I'm sure you do. You knew that kid better than anyone. You knew him so well, so please, let me know what to do. I'm screwing him up, Steve is right. I let him be too clingy rather than be independent, I don't help him make friends, I just make him hang out with me and my super-secret boy band." He chuckled a little bitterly. "Why did you choose me? Obviously, I chose to take him in, but the process would not have been nearly as quick if you hadn't listed me as his primary option of care if something were to happen. So why me? I care about the kid so much, all I am going to do is ruin his life." He quieted for a minute, the wind just rustling the grass around him. He sighed before continuing, "Maybe I am like my dad." He paused for a minute deep in thought. "No, there is no way I am like my dad, Steve is wrong. I actually care about Peter and I tell him that every day. Maybe he could hear it more, but he definitely doesn't doubt it. Also, I feel like I know him pretty well. At least well enough to know when he needs to be pushed and when he needs to be comforted. I think I know what's best for him, or at least what isn't bad for him. Right?" The sun seemed to shine a little brighter from behind the clouds. "I'm doing my best, May. I hope you can see that. I'll take care of him so don't you or Ben worry. I'm taking care of our kid."  
He stood up, brushed the dirt off his knees and the tears of his face, and headed back to the tower. When he got there, he wrapped Peter in a big hug and went to find Steve.

"Hey, Tony, listen. I am really sorry, I know I was so out of line-" Steve started, looking at least a little bit regretful.

"It's fine." Tony brushed off his apology.

"No, it's not. Listen Tony, I feel really bad. I know that must have really upset you." Steve sounded a little desperate now.

"Really, Capsicle. It's okay." Tony told the other man, putting a hand on his shoulder and looking at him in the eyes. "Just let it go. I understand that you just want what is best for Peter. I know how you were raised- sorry, that came out wrong. I just want you to know I understand where you are coming from, even if I don't agree."

"Okay." Steve relented.

They smiled at each other and headed back to the main area. They found themselves in the kitchen, only to see all of the Avengers tossing Goldfish into the air, while Peter tried to catch them from the ceiling. Man, he loved his family. When they ran out of Goldfish, Peter did a flip off the ceiling and stuck the landing, much to everyone's amazement. Peter broke out in a fit of giggles. Tony smiled at the kid and gave him a thumbs up, which made the kid grin even wider if that was possible. Yeah, he was doing pretty okay.


	7. Chapter 7

Peter hated everything. It was July for god's sake, he should not be doing homework. Unfortunately, being in high school meant lots of summer reading. When he said lots, he meant a lot. He had to write an eight page essay on the patriarchal structure of literature, using Call of the Wild and "To Build a Fire" as references. He also had to do a bunch of various worksheets for chemistry and physics, write a lab report on a description of results for biology, complete a chapter in a math book, and write an outline for the first three chapters of his history textbook. He hated everything.

Luckily, he was able to complete his worksheets in about two hours. His lab report took a little less time than that, but only because he was able to enlist Dr. Banner for help. His math chapter was quick and easy, as he was pretty good at math if he did say so himself. He had finished history at the beginning of the summer because he and Ned split it up because they both hated history and wanted to minimize the work as much as possible. Unfortunately, he only had two weeks to write his essay and it was killing him. English was his worst subject and this assignment in particular had really put a damper on his mood.

He gave up for today, having only gotten through a couple paragraphs. He instead wandered around his room, looking at all the things Tony put in. While taking in the expansiveness of his closet, he noticed a couple of boxes stacked up in the corner with a note on top.

_Hey kid. Your lease was almost up on your apartment, so I decided to send Happy over to put stuff in boxes for you. Most of the basic stuff is still there, so it still looks like your apartment, but here is some of the personal stuff from your room and your aunt's too. Nobody looked through any of it, don't freak out, but we figured you might want to sort through it. I would've told you about it instead of leaving you this god-awful note and waiting for you to find it, but I didn't want you to feel any pressure about it. If you need anything, come find me. Don't forget, we all care about you!_

_-Tony_

He couldn't help but smile reading the note. He was super grateful to Tony for this. Even if he had all the time in the world, it would have been really difficult to put everything in a box and bring it back to the tower. Now, he could look through everything at his own pace in a room that didn't already make him feel like crying.

He picked up the first box nearest to him, and found it filled with old clothes of both his, May's, and a little bit of Ben's. He found a sweatshirt near the top that smelled so much like her it made his heart ache. He couldn't help but pull it on over his t-shirt. He put the box aside and moved onto the next one. He noticed another little note on top.

_Hi again, Underoos. I left little notes like this on top of all the boxes just in case you needed little reminders of all the support you have. Anyway, this is super cheesy and personal, which you know I don't do (and I know you love), so I hope you appreciate it._

_-Tony_

He did appreciate it. A little note and reminder from Tony were actually exactly what he needed. It helped keep him grounded and not completely submerged in the past, which would distract him in the moment, but after he came back to reality, he would be even more upset. He moved the note to the side with the other one and opened the next box. It was filled with a bunch of old mementos and objects that had decorated their rooms and other places in the apartment. There was a small glass dolphin he had given May as a gift a few years back, a jewelry box, some other random decorations, and a couple of meaningful souvenirs and keepsakes.

_It's okay kid. We all can help you and take care of you. If you need me, you can always come find me._

- _Tony_

The contents of the next box made Peter's breath get caught in his chest. It was a box filled with various arts-related objects. It had some quilts that May had made, a couple of her paintings, and all of the art Peter had made when he was a kid. He pulled out a couple particular drawings he remembered – one he had drawn at age five of him, May, and Ben all together, one of May and Ben when he was eight and working on portraits in art class, and one of Iron Man and him at age nine when Tony saved him at the Stark Expo. He couldn't help but smile at the last one. He quickly wiped the stray tears of his face so that he didn't accidentally wet the pictures. He carefully pulled out his favorite of May's quilts, laid it to the side, and gently laid the pictures back on the top. He then jumped up and spread the quilt across the bed, smiling softly. He returned to open the last box, already able to guess the contents.

"Hey, FRIDAY?" Peter called out.

"Yes, Mr. Parker?" The AI responded.

"If Tony is not busy, could you please send him up?" He asked hopefully.

"Yes, Mr. Parker."

He focused his attention back on the box and carefully placed the note with the others, before moving the whole stack with the first box.

_It will all be okay. You are safe and cared for here, and don't ever doubt that. You're my favorite Spider-Kid!_

- _Tony._

Like he suspected, the box was filled with old scrapbooks and pictures, some in frames because they were put up around the apartment. He felt more tears slide down his face as he gazed upon the picture on the top – him, May, and Ben when he was about five and had lost his two front teeth after falling off the swing. The next picture was much more recent, being his eight grade graduation/acceptance into Midtown. It was the last picture taken of the three of them, and they were just so happy, that Peter completely lost it. His whole body was wracked with sobs, and he instinctively pushed the box away and curled into himself.

That was the moment Tony was finally free and had headed up to join Peter. "Oh, kid." He called out softly, going over to wrap him in a hug.

"It's fine. I can finish this. It was just a little much." He weakly attempted to play it off and wipe the tears out of his eyes.

"C'mon, kid. It's okay to be upset and overwhelmed. There is no hurry to go through all of these boxes." Tony told him, trying to calm him down.

"No, it's okay. I've got it." He took a deep breath and picked up one of the photo albums, opening it gently.

"Would you care to show them to me? I haven't seen any pictures of baby Peter, and I definitely need to see that." The older man smiled.

Peter knew this wasn't true, he had seen a couple of random pictures of a younger Peter because of May, but he accepted it nonetheless. They spent the next few hours flipping through the books while Peter explained each picture and the memory that went with it. Pepper was pissed off at Tony for missing a big meeting for Stark Industries, but Tony didn't care. He was able to comfort the boy and help him get closure, while hearing all of the funny stories from his past, which was more important than any meeting that could've been scheduled.

Later, while he was working on some paperwork, Peter approached him uneasily.

"Hey Tony?" Peter asked hesitantly.

"Yeah kid?" Tony responded looking up, slightly concerned at the boy's demeanor.

The kid continued, "I was wondering if… um… I could return to Spider-Man?"

The genius asked, still slightly worried, especially because of how the kid was acting earlier. "Are you sure you are ready?"

"I… yeah. I am." The teen arachnid told him confidently.

"Okay." He told him.

Peter was still slightly confused. "Okay?"

"Okay. We can finalize the last of the upgrades and you can head out back on patrol." Tony told the younger boy, watching his face light up.

"Really? Thanks!" Peter pulled him into a tight hug because of his excitement. Tony could feel the kid smiling against his chest, which made the genius smile slightly wider.

Tony returned the hug. "Of course, spider-kid. Now you should probably go work on your homework."

"But Tony, there is so much! I hate Call of the Wild!" Peter pulled back, a mock look of betrayal displayed on his face.

"Yeah, I know, which is why you should do it now. Something may or may not have come up, that you might want to participate in." The billionaire explained, rolling his eyes at Peter's procrastination and childish behavior.

"Ugh, fine." He relented, heading back to his room, poorly attempting to mask the excitement about the prospect of doing something with the Avengers.

"Have fun!" Tony called after him, a grin on his face.

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever." Peter called back, waving his arm in dismissal.

They finished the rest of the Spider-Man upgrades in the next two days. They managed to fit more web fluid in his shooters, make the suit bullet-proof, and improve Karen's coding. Peter was really excited. Being Spider-Man again would make his life seem so much more normal. Don't get him wrong, he liked his new life at the compound and/or tower with Tony, but he couldn't wait for some part of his old life back. Especially the crime-fighting part.

"Alright kid. Everything is all set and ready to go. Are you sure you are ready for this?" Tony asked him, as Peter put on the suit.

"Yeah!" He chirped back, enthusiastically.

"Are you sure you don't want me to come with you?" The billionaire asked uneasily, a little bit worried for Peter's first time back out crime-fighting.

"I'll be fine, Tony. Really." The boy reassured him.

"And if something happens…" Tony started, threating him (in a caring way, of course).

"I'll call you right away. Even if it is minor." The arachnid repeated back, almost robotically.

"Okay, good." Tony nodded.

"You also have Karen monitoring me, so it will be fine." Peter threw out casually.

"Karen? Who the hell is Karen?" Tony was completely thrown off his rhythm by the mentioning of a random lady who had apparently been monitoring his kid.

"Oh, right. I named the AI in my suit." That made a lot of sense.

"You named your AI Karen? After a suburban mom?" Tony mocked him.

"You named your AI Friday? After a day of the week?" Peter retaliated.

"Touché. Alright kid. Have fun and stay safe!" Tony relented, supporting the kid.

"Thanks, Tony! I will!" Peter gave him one last shit-eating grin.

With that, he launched himself off the rooftop.

Oh, how Peter missed the feeling of free falling for a moment, then swinging on his webs. The wind in his face, the adrenaline rush, the feeling of awed stares from pedestrians. He missed Spider-Man. He dropped into an ally and stopped a mugging in about two minutes. He managed to stop multiple crimes in the next couple of hours, and he loved every second of it. The Avengers hadn't been able to help out as much as Tony had hoped, but the sporadic help from the popular heroes were frequent and impacting enough that crime rates didn't get too high. Peter greatly appreciated that.

He was doing okay until he stopped a mugging of a middle aged woman that looked very similar to his aunt. He did alright in stopping the mugger, but as soon as he made it to the nearest rooftop, he became uneasy. She looked so similar that it brought back so many memories. He decided to swing home after that, even though it was only a little after eleven. It was good that he got home alright, considering how his vision was blurry with tears. Karen was offering some directions in his ear, but he didn't pay much attention, no matter how helpful they would be.

The second he got back to the tower, he changed into sleep clothes, grabbed a tub of cookie dough ice cream out of the freezer, and collapsed on the couch next to Tony. Tony quickly jumped up and grabbed a spoon too, to steal some of his ice cream.

"Everything alright, Spider-Kid?" Tony asked worriedly as he sat down, after seeing the expression on his face.

"Can we watch a movie?" Peter asked, evading the question. Once the movie was on and they were comfortable, Peter explained "Patrol was great. I missed Spider-Man so much." He paused for a minute before continuing, "I saw someone that looked like May." That was enough for Tony to understand. He pulled the kid closer and wrapped him into a one armed hug, stealing a bite of the dessert on his lap. They both turned their attention back to the screen, understanding each other perfectly.


	8. Chapter 8

They were all gathered in the conference room around the large table, including Peter. Nick Fury was wrapping up his extensive and unnecessary speech, which ended with "we need you all in Atlanta."

"What? Why?" Tony asked suspiciously.

"We all literally just came back from a mission. You promised us at least two weeks of relief." Clint sighed.

Fury gave them all a harsh glare, shutting them up. "Stop whining. You will go where I tell you. Especially you, Tony. You haven't done anything for us recently."

"Well, technically I am not even an Avenger, so…" Tony attempted to remind the man, but was cut off.

"That said, don't worry. We just need you here for a meeting. It will only be for Saturday and Sunday of this weekend. Now, can I count on you all to be there?" Fury asked, completely serious.

They all murmured confirmations, except Tony. "Fury, I have a company, I have stuff in my lab, I can't just drop everything and-"

"You can bring your kid, Stark." The director cut him off once again, knowing what this was really about. "Don't even try to convince me you still run Stark Industries."

"Oh my god, yes. Please bring me, Tony. Please? I have never been to Atlanta!" Peter begged him.

"Alright, fine." The billionaire sighed. "We'll be there."

"Good." The line cut out.

"So, how are we getting there? Can we take one of your private jets?" Clint asked eagerly.

"I'm not sure, that seems like a lot of money. How about we just drive?" Steve suggested.

"Capsicle, I am a billionaire. We could take the jet if you all want." Tony threw out, nonchalantly.

"I'm with Steve though, it would be a great chance for bonding! A road trip sounds like fun!" Bruce put out.

"Okay, Nat. You are the tie breaker." Tony told the assassin, looking at her directly in the eyes.

"Road trip." She told them, smiling at the look of utter disbelief on Tony's face. "I actually hate car trips but pissing off Clint and Tony is worth every second."

"Pure evil." Clint said, shaking his head from his spot next to her.

"Alright, so road trip it is. How do we plan for something like this? When do we leave? Snacks? Navigation? Mus-" Peter rambled, practically shaking with excitement.

"Woah, Pete. Calm down. Have you ever been on a road trip before?" Tony asked, trying to calm down the younger boy.

"Well… I took a bus with some of my classmates to D.C for a Decathlon competition, but that wasn't really a road trip…" The spider teen trailed off.

"Unacceptable. This is going to be great." Tony told the boy, suddenly completely on board with the idea. "Clint, your job is snacks. Nat, you can plan stops, departure time, basically all the logistics stuff. Bruce, you have navigation. Steve, you can get stuff to do for the car ride because it is going to take us about 14 hours, which is a ridiculous amount of time. Pete, you and I are in charge of music."

"What? No way." Steve protested.

"Tony, no offense, but-" Bruce started.

"We all hate your music and it sucks ass." Clint summed up.

"Yeah, well." He shrugged. "I am in charge of music, so you all better do your jobs."

They all sighed and dispersed to get ready for the trip.

The day of, everything was a disaster. Clint couldn't find his phone, Bruce felt sick, Peter was sleep deprived and all over the place, Tony would not stop complaining, and Steve was frantic. It was anarchy.

"Shut up! All of you!" Natasha finally yelled out, shutting down all of them. "My job was logistics, whatever that means, and common sense says if we don't leave in the next twenty minutes we are screwed! Clint, you left your phone in the fridge, there is medicine sitting out on the counter for you Bruce, Peter all of your stuff is in a pile by the door, everything is now handled Steve. Now, Tony. We all know you like to fly in your fancy plane! We know this trip is like 28 total hours in the car! We know you can't stand us! So, for the love of god, shut up!"

They all went silent, slightly ashamed. The quietly grabbed all of their things and headed out the door.

"Who's driving?" Tony asked.

"Not it!" Peter called out, the others, except Tony, a bit too late, following his lead. They all paused, registering what he said, before Peter corrected, giving a sheepish smile, "not that I can drive anyway."

"Dammit." Tony cursed, sliding into the front.

"Shotgun!" Peter called out, beating Clint by a millisecond.

"No way is the kid riding in the front." Clint claimed, upset.

"Rules of shotgun. What can you do, Legolas?" Tony told him, grinning.

Clint grumbled and threw in various curses while he was forced into the back row of seats. Bruce, being the peace keeper, agreed to sit back there with him. Natasha sat in front of Clint, knowing that she was the only one who he wouldn't kick the back of the seat of. Steve sat in front of Bruce, and they were finally about to leave, when Bruce piped up. "How am I supposed to give directions from back here?"

"We take a freeway most of the way, so when we switch drivers, you can move up." Peter called back, unwilling to move from his seat.

Bruce sighed, defeatedly, and pulled out his book. That frustrated Tony because if he wasn't driving, he could do the same. Instead, he had to hear Clint screaming about snacks and Natasha yelling at him to quit kicking the seat. Tony immediately regretted ever going along with this idea. He should've stayed separated from the rest of the group, except maybe Peter, and taken the jet.

Luckily, after about a half an hour, everything calmed down. They were quietly, but enthusiastically, jamming out to Peter's tunes, while the two assassins and Steve played Go Fish in the back. Peter quizzed Tony on science terms (which helped him fix his summer lab report), and they pretty much did their own thing.

After two hours, Peter got a little bored. No surprise there. He called out to the rest of the Avengers.

"Guys!" They all looked up at him. "Remember how we watched Mamma Mia the other day?"

"The one about that lady who didn't know the father of her child because she was stupid and careless?" Steve asked.

 

"Yep. That one. I'm having a sing-a-long so you all better join." They did. As soon as "Honey, Honey" came on all of them were bouncing to the beat and screaming at the top of their lungs the lyrics (actually, it was just Tony, Clint, and Peter, but the others enjoyed it nonetheless).

After four hours, they stopped for a bathroom break and Tony bought them all slushies. Peter got the biggest size he could find, Clint shamed those who got grape, and Tony argued that there was no such thing as a blue raspberry. Steve couldn't help but be amused at the childishness of them all (even though Peter actually is a child). He watched as Peter broke a straw in half and put it in his mouth like a walrus, which caused Tony to crack-up and do the same thing. He had to admit, as weary as he was previously of Tony, the self-proclaimed genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist, and his parenting of a child, Tony was great with him. He was beginning to see that Tony was right and that maybe Peter did need a bit of support, encouragement, and to cling to somebody a little bit, as opposed to Steve's idea that Peter needed support, but that he should be independent and self-sustaining. He would definitely need to apologize to both of them again.

After five hours, they stopped for another bathroom break because Peter drank most of his slushy in a very short period of time after they left.

At hour seven, they decided they needed to stop for dinner. "Okay, where do you guys want to go?" Tony asked, taking an exit. "There are so many fast food restaurants." They all starting calling out things, overlapping each other. "Alright, I have an idea. Whoever picks has to drive. Don't forget, it's five o'clock, so you are driving till two am." That settled it, nobody wanted to pick that much anymore.

"I want Wendy's." Natasha offered, implying she would drive next.

The Avengers made Tony's head spin. So many orders, specifications, and demands. Thankfully, the Wendy's got all of their orders right, so after picking up the food and signing a few autographs, they were all back on the road, happy. Bruce had moved up to shotgun, Natasha was driving, Steve stayed put, and Clint took the opportunity to move up from the very back, so Tony and Peter were pushed all the way back and into the trunk (according to the two of them).

"Okay, lets plat ISpy." Steve suggested, much to the other's dismay.

"Wow, you really are old." Tony commented.

"C'mon it will be fun!" Steve insisted. "You did put me in charge of games!"

Tony sighed, and they all agreed. "Okay, fine. You go first, Cap."

"ISpy something… green." He stated, trying to focus on his lap, as not to give it away.

"Trees?" Tony asked, sarcastically.

"Um, yeah." Steve said, much to everyone's surprise.

"Okay, ISpy something green." Tony called out, making everyone roll their eyes.

"Trees?" Clint asked, smirking.

"We literally just did that." Steve rolled his eyes.

"Well, yeah, but he could've picked it to mess with us!" Clint insisted, much to Tony and Natasha's amusement.

"Yeah, I guess you're right." Steve relented, rolling his eyes at the grinning billionaire.

"Keep guessing, guys!" He insisted like a child.

"I swear to god, if it is me Tony…" Bruce called from the front, giving Tony his best glare.

"Brucie got it!" Tony clapped happily, before dramatically gesturing to him, so he could continue.

They played for a little while longer, actually having fun to Steve's credit. Tony felt a weight on his arm and looked down to see Peter snuggled into his arm, earbuds in, asleep. He smiled and fixed the blanket that was draped over to him.

"I got it! It was the orange airbag sign!" Clint called out, very loudly.

"Shhhh!" Tony gestured to his arm. "Spider-kid's asleep!"

"Aww." They all chorused.

Pretty soon, all of them were asleep except Tony and Natasha. They pulled into their hotel at around 2:15, due to a few more bathroom breaks made by the team.  
The bright light of the sign woke up Steve and Clint, who climbed out of the car the second they parked. Natasha shook Bruce awake and the four of them headed inside. Tony, meanwhile, brought over a luggage cart, loaded their baggage onto it, and pushed it towards the door. Then, while inside, he carefully shook Peter awake.

"C'mon Spider-baby. We're here." He whispered.

"Huh?" Peter sat up, trying to rub the sleep out of his eyes.

"We are at the hotel. It's time to head in." Tony insisted, helping him climb out of the car.

"O-okay." He yawned and followed Tony inside.

The second they reached the room, they all collapsed onto the beds. Peter didn't even make it to the couch, he just grabbed a pillow and curled up on the floor. The others followed soon after.

The weekend meetings were fine. They didn't really get to do anything in Atlanta, Fury kept them all super busy. Peter ended up being so bored the first hour of the meetings (because he had to sit outside), that he walked the five miles back to the hotel and hung out there the rest of the weekend. Not that he minded, there were tons of snacks and a really nice pool. The others were envious.

The ride back went exactly as you could have imagined – they argued, blasted music, ate tons of snacks, and had an amazing time. So maybe they agreed to make this a yearly thing and maybe they didn't.


	9. Chapter 9

It was August. If he was being completely honest, Peter was actually excited to go back to school. Don't get him wrong, he loved being around Tony and the other avengers, but he missed Ned, he missed the decathlon, and he missed feeling like a normal kid who wasn't adopted by one of the most famous men in the world. Holy shit, life was crazy. Anyway, because of this, when Tony told him that a week from today there was the book sale at school where you usually buy all of the textbooks and stuff for the upcoming school year, Peter was thrilled.

"Only five more days!" He bounced up and down, making Tony to chuckle.

"Seriously? It is a book sale. I can buy you better copies of all of these books from other places, it isn't even really necessary." Tony insisted.

"But Tony!" He drew out the y for an extended period of time. "It is about the experience! It is school!"

"You are probably the only kid in the entire world who is actually excited to go back to school." He shook his head and the ridiculous, but adorable, kid.

"yeah, well, I like it!" He insisted.

"Okay, spider-kid." He smiled. Tony paused, looking actually a little nervous, before approaching a new topic. "Remember what I gave you for your birthday?"

"Yeah?" Peter told him. Truth be told, he actually just now remembered the set of car keys he been given. A couple months ago for his birthday, Tony offered to help him repair a car (knowing Peter would appreciate it more than the billionaire just buying him a car), so he had something to drive to school. He had been so thrilled about it when he got it, but after May… It slipped his mind.

"Would you maybe want to start it soon? I know school is starting and you probably don't want to take the subway every day. If you want to wait, we can, or if you would rather not do it at all I can just get you a nice watch or something to make up for it…" he trailed off, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly.

"No, that sounds great! I am actually really excited about it!" Peter replied, happily, making the billionaire more at ease.

"Great. Most of the parts are in the lab near the garage, so as soon as you are ready, we can start it." Peter beamed.

A couple days later, Tony showed him the car. To say the car was damaged was an understatement. It basically was a rusted down shell of Chevrolet Camaro, almost beyond recognition. They could fix it up, sure, but it would be a lot of work. In other words, it was beautiful.

"Oh my god." He breathed out, staring at the car.

"You like it?" Tony asked jokingly, smirking at the kid.

"It has got to be the most beautiful thing in the entire world." Peter gaped.

"Well, that must really be saying something, considering I exist." The genius gestured to himself, grinning.

Peter shot him a look. "You're ruining it."

"I don't think I am, but if you are really that ungrateful then I could always take it back..." He trailed off.

"No!" Peter shouted, practically jumping into the air. "Make as many egotistical jokes as you want."

"That's what I thought." The man said, heading over to the car.

They worked on it for a couple of hours, cracking jokes and trying to remove all of the rust. It was hard, but Peter was thoroughly enjoying himself. Tony seemed to be as well. Maybe that was why Peter decided to bring up the particularly difficult subject.

"Hey, Tony?" Peter asked, a little uneasily.

Tony, sensing the kid's mood, quieted his music and replied, "Yeah, kid?"

"Would it be okay if I went over to Ned's house after the book sale?" He asked, silently holding his breath.

"Sure. Are you sleeping over or is there I time when I should pick you up?" The genius told him, nonchalantly. Obviously, he knew how anxious Peter has been recently and how  
nervous he must be about asking to be away from Tony and the tower, so he decided to play it off lightly.

"I think I am sleeping over, but if not, I can just walk home." He shrugged going back to his work on the tail.

"What?" Tony asked incredulously, sliding out from his place under the car so he could see the kids face. "How far away does he live?"

"Um… about a five minute walk from school?" Peter told him, voice a little high because he knew that was pretty far from the tower and Tony would say no.

"Yeah, no. I'll come get you when you are done." Tony replied, shooting the kid a look.

"Seriously, Tony. It isn't a big deal, don't worry." The kid insisted, not wanting to bother him.

"Kid." He gave him a genuine, but pointed, look. "I own a car, I have a driver's license, and I am willing to come get you. There is no way you are walking thirty minutes back here."

"Okay. Thank you." Peter quietly accepted.

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever." He rolled his eyes, with no ill intent, and slid back under the car, leaving Peter grinning and giddy.

Peter woke up at about six am on the day of the book sale. It started at eight, but you had to get there early if you didn't want everything to be sold out and all of the best copies gone. Plus, he was really excited. He had seen Ned once since last school year and that was the day he came to the tower, and he hadn't seen MJ and some of the other decathlon kids since the end of last year either. As excited as he was, there were a few things that made him pretty anxious. The first was seeing Flash. Tony promised he would just send him in with money as not to create a scene, but if Flash did anything, he was afraid a full suit of Iron Man armor would bust down the door. The second thing was what was happening after. Peter and Tony had a meeting with the principal to switch all of Peter's forms from May to Tony. Which also meant his teachers and some of the staff would see him with Tony instead of May, raising some questions, but also because it was just another thing that further distanced him from his aunt. He knew that was ridiculous, but he couldn't help it.

They pulled up to school and Peter immediately found Ned in the crowd. He was wearing his hat and standing right at the front looking around.

"Ned!" Peter called out, practically launching himself out of the car the second it stopped moving.

"Woah, woah, woah, woah, wait a sec, kiddo." Tony called out to him, making Peter sigh and turn around. "One: here is your money. I didn't know how much you needed, so here is $500." Peter's eyes widened as he accepted the money, knowing he wouldn't spend even half that. "Two: If that Speedy kid or whatever-"

"Flash?" Peter suggested.

He continued, not pausing. "- even looks at you, I want you to beat his ass."

"Tony, I am not going to do that." The kid rolled his eyes.

"Fine, but if he makes one comment, I am coming in there with the suit." Tony swore, looking nonchalant, which made Peter realize that he was probably just being dramatic and sarcastic. Key word – probably.

"Tony." Peter gave the man a pointed look.

This time, the genius just ignored him. "And the third thing: tell Ned I say hi."

Peter smiled, nodded, and finally headed towards his friend. "Ned, Ned, Ned, Ned." Peter called out, finally finding his friend. The second he reached him, they launched into their nerdy, complicated little handshake.

Tony saw this and couldn't help but smile at the two dorks. He was glad Peter had a friend like Ned. He wondered how different life would've been if he met Rhodey earlier. Or Happy? Pepper? Would his playboy years have been shorter or longer? Anyway, Ned was good for him and he was glad Peter could be around somebody he cared about other than Tony and co.

Peter and Ned headed into the building and straight for the chem textbooks. "Tony wanted me to tell you hi."

Ned's mouth fell open. "No way. Did he really? You aren't just telling me this to make me feel good? He actually said to tell me hi?"

"Yep." Peter smiled at his friend's attitude. "And he said 'Ned' too. Not just 'your friend.'"

"Oh my god, this is the greatest day of my life." Peter shook his head at his friend, and they got their books.

"sup losers." MJ greeted, falling into step with them on their way to the doors.

"Hey MJ, how was your summer?" Ned asked.

She shrugged, brushing it off. "Did you guys see the car in the parking lot? There must be a fancy new rich kid enrolling this year."

Peter felt his heartrate speed up, but he played it off coolly. "Oh yeah, that would really suck."

"Mmhm." She agreed, eyeing him skeptically. "See ya." She branched away and headed back towards their locker area.

Pretty soon, the school had mostly cleared out. Peter figured this would be the best time to text Tony.

Hey, the school is pretty much empty of other kids. Now is probably as good a time as any to head in. He texted him, not bothering to wait for a reply before sliding his phone into his pocket and heading for the main office.

Unfortunately, right as he met up with Tony, he saw MJ heading down the hall.

"You're Tony Stark." She said, more of a statement than a question or exclamation.

"Yes, I am." Tony replied, equally as stoic.

"While I admire many things about your company, such as the clean energy produced by the arc reactor and the female CEO, I still do not appreciate your capitalized nature built upon the exploitation of the poor and the direction towards the rich." She told him bluntly.

He nodded thoughtfully, "Now that you mention it, I agree with you fully. What do you propose I do about such things?"

She looked almost stunned for a second, before suggesting. "Fund a branch of charity's and make products and internships more available, for starters."

"Wonderful." He gave her a genuine smile. "Here is an email that will put you through directly to my head of funds. I am sure she would be more than happy to have help on such things, if I notify her first. I will shoot her an email tonight and you can probably contact her by the end of the week."

She nodded, looking almost excited (at least her version of it). She seemed to then finally notice Peter, slightly hiding behind Tony. "Oh hey, Peter. Internship thing?"

He panicked for a second, unsure of what to tell her, before Tony stepped in. "Actually, I planned to offer more internships to students here. I have a meeting with the principle soon and just happened to run into Peter."

She nodded before giving a slight wave and exiting the building. Peter sighed, "thanks, Tony."

"Of course, kid. Now, let's head inside." He steered Peter towards the door.

"So, let me get this straight." The principle asked, leaning forward. "You are here to transfer all of Peter's information away from May?"

"Yes, sir. Here is my identification and my legal guardianship form if necessary." Tony coolly replied, sliding the papers across the desk.

"Alright. If I may ask, what happened to Mrs. Parker?" He pressed, making Peter even more anxious.

"Car accident." Tony replied simply, before changing the subject. "In the same regard as the original emergency contact forms, I trust that this will stay between us and only be revealed if absolutely necessary?"

"Of course, Mr. Stark." They both stood up and shook hands, leading Peter to stand up as well. "Bye Peter, I'll see you next week." The exchanged a small, albeit forced, smile.

Tony and Peter headed back out to the car, feeling a light drizzle of rain upon them. "How are you feeling, kid?" Peter shrugged, causing Tony to press a bit more. "Are you okay with what happened between you and your friend; MJ was it?" He nodded. "How about everything with the forms?" He shrugged, which let Tony know that that was exactly what was bothering him. "Come here, Pete." He wrapped him into a brief, but genuine, hug and they continued to the car. "Listen, I know this is hard. It'll get easier. Also, just because she is no longer the school's contact, doesn't put you any farther away from her. Okay? I was already a contact for you, just now I am the primary one. It isn't taking May away, it is just a promotion for me. Does that make you feel any better?" He asked softly. They had reached the car already and now they were sitting in the seats, not yet pulled out.

"Yeah." Peter replied, just as softly, and wiped a stray tear from his face. "Thanks, Tony."

He gave the kid's shoulder a comforting rub and pulled out of the parking lot, telling him "Of course, Peter."

They reached Ned's in about two minutes. "Okay. Have fun, be polite, and don't sneak out to go Spider-Man-ing. Got it?"

"Yeah, yeah. I got it." Peter muttered, rolling his eyes, although he had a smile on his face.

"Good. Just text me whenever and I'll come pick you up." Tony smiled, and Peter hopped out of the car.

The night with Ned was great. It was so familiar and fun, and they caught up on everything they missed over the summer. Peter was so comfortable and had a great time. Although, at about one am, he had a nightmare. He was afraid this would happen, as he was separated from Tony, but he figured because he was with Ned it would be okay. Nope. 

Surprisingly though, it wasn't the car crash dream. It was a vulture dream again. He woke up in a cold sweat, waking up just before a scream could escape his lips. He felt the pressure of the building on his chest, the feeling of helplessness. Although, this time, to make things worse, he felt the absence of Tony. Tony hadn't come. He knew that Tony hadn't come in real life, but this was different. What really happened is that Tony didn't know. He doubted that Tony even knew now. But in his dream, it was that Tony wasn't coming. As in, intentional.

He knew it was too early to call Tony. The man would be asleep, or at least getting ready for bed. Definitely not up for trying to talk Peter out of a panic attack. But something about the haunting conversation replaying in his head made him press dial.

_"Mr. Stark! Mr. Stark! Tony! Tony, please! I am down here! Please come get me!" Peter screamed, far beneath the surface of the rubble_.

_Adrian Toomes could only chuckled. "'Tony' isn't coming for you, Pete. Can't you see? You're stuck here all alone. Poor little Spider-baby."_

Peter tried to slow his breathing, tried to focus on the phone ringing in his hands, tried to shove the Vulture's words out of his head. Seconds later, he could see the call connect. He put the phone up to his ear.

"Tony?" His voice was way smaller than he would've like to admit.

"Peter? Is everything okay?" Tony asked, seriously concerned.

"I just... I woke up… I can't… you just…" He struggled to find the right words.

"Did you have a nightmare?" Tony asked, recognizing how Peter was acting. Peter nodded, not understanding that Tony couldn't see him in his frantic state. "Rate it." After the first couple of times he got nightmares, they set up a system where Peter would give a number for how bad it was, so they knew how to handle it.

"8." Peter said, unable to breathe at this point. He stood up, which made him very dizzy, and headed to the bathroom, so he didn't wake up Ned.

"Oh, shit, Pete. I'll come over right now and get you. Then we can curl up on the couch, put on Star Wars, and eat ice-cream. Okay? I need you to breathe for me. In… out…in…out…" He could hear Tony getting in the car on the other end, and Peter tried to breathe with Tony's voice. The older man continued talking to give Peter something else to focus on, "or we don't have to watch a movie if you don't want. We can head back to the music room and I can play that song from Hamilton you like, and you can curl up in all the fuzzy blankets. That would be okay, too. We also can head down to the lab, and Brucie might be able to join us, I saw him about an hour ago. What do you think sounds good?"

"Maybe the music room?" Peter asked, feeling better. He always liked music and that helped calm him down.

"Okay. Music room it is. Why don't you get your stuff together, write Ned a note, and wait outside? It isn't raining right now and is a nice temperature." Peter stood up to follow his instructions. "I am less than five minutes away."

"Okay." He whispered.

"We can head down to the music room and I'll play whatever you want for as long as you want, and you'll feel better? Okay?" Tony paused, taking a deep breath. "I'm here, kid."

Peter walked down the steps and Tony wrapped him in a tight embrace, whispering in his ear. "It's okay, kid. I've got you. Everything is okay."

"I just… I had fun with Ned… and I can't do this every night, Tony… I can't." He whispered, practically breaking down.

"I know, kid. I know. It'll be okay. It'll get better. I promise." Tony whispered back, hugging the kid even tighter.

They stayed like that for a few more minutes, in the middle of the night, the rain starting to drizzle above them.


	10. Chapter 10

Tony stood at the counter, staring at the empty hall. Waiting. His coffee was cooling in his hands and the tall stack of pancakes sat beside him. The spider-kid's fast metabolism requires him to consume more calories, and since he would be at school, he needed a big breakfast. He checked the clock again – 7:40. Anytime now….

"Tony! Tony! Tony, Tony, Tony, Tony, Tony, Tony, Tony." Peter came running down the hall, practically sliding into his seat because of his socks on the hardwood floors.

"Yeah, kid?" Tony asked, nonchalantly.

"Do you know what today is?" Peter gave him an intense, but excited look.

He feigned ignorance. "No, what?"

"It's the first day of school!" The kid shouted, grinning happily.

"Oh, right." The genius pretended to remember, tapping his chin thoughtfully.

"You're messing with me." Peter deadpanned, frowning at him.

"A little bit." He gave the kid a smirk and turned around to fill up his coffee.

"C'mon, Tony. I have only seen my friends like, twice, all summer! Plus, this means decathlon is starting up. And Science Olympiad. And Mathletes." The teenage explained, practically shaking.

"Wow, you are such a nerd." He rolled his eyes, jokingly.

"Shut up. You would feel the same as me if you were in my position!" Peter insisted.

"You're right… but I am not, so I can make fun of you all I want." Tony shot him another grin.

"Ugh, just let me live my life, free of judgement!" He dramatically stood up and sauntered towards the food on the table.

"You are such a drama queen. Just sit down and eat breakfast so you aren't late." The older man shook his head and passed him some silverware.

"Oh. Right." He sheepishly accepted the utensils and stacked some of the pancakes on a plate.

"So how do you want to get to school?" Tony asked him, finishing another cup of coffee.

"Um… can I walk?" Peter suggested, shoveling in more food.

"I'm not sure why you like to walk places so much."

"Because I need the fresh air! And it's fun!" He explained, using wild gestures to prove his point.

"Yeah, okay, whatever you say. But you can walk if you want to get to school thirty minutes late! You need to be there in forty five minutes, and you are still in your pajamas with   
half of your pancakes left." Tony gestured casually to the boy who indeed was wearing Iron-Man pajamas, had wild hair, and three pancakes left.

"Yeah, you're right." He admitted, eating another pancake.

"But anyway, kid, do you want me to drive you?" He offered, kindly (and slightly hopeful, not that he would admit it.)

"If it's not too much trouble. I know you have meetings later and-" Peter started but was quickly cut off.

"Be ready to go in thirty minutes, and I'll meet you at the car." He gave the kid a small smile and put all his dishes in the sink.

"Okay. Thanks for breakfast." Peter told him, cutting up his last pancake.

"You're welcome." Tony chirped, plucking a couple of pancake pieces off of his plate.

"Hey!" Peter protested, but the billionaire had already walked down the hallway towards his own room.

40 minutes later, Peter arrived at school.

He entered the building with a little bit of a different attitude than when he woke up, as now that he was finally here, it wasn't as great as he remembered. Immediately, he was taunted by Flash and knocked into the lockers by passing cheerleaders. Ned wasn't going to be at school until later, he suddenly remembered, as he got a text early this morning that his flight back from visiting his cousins in Topeka got delayed.

He felt his phone buzz in his pocket as he was pulling his notebooks out of his locker, so he quickly slid them into his backpack and pulled out his phone. Three texts from Tony.

_Hey, if today isn't as good as you hoped, I just got a text from Clint that they released Avengers themed ice cream, and some of them seem pretty good, so we can have a movie night or something._ Explained the first one.

The second one read _Oh and btw, sorry but they don't have a tub of anything Spidey. They had Stark Raving Hazelnuts though, and that sounds great!_ He couldn't help but grin at that. _Seriously though, I hope you have a great day kid, and call me if you need anything._

He slid his phone back into his pocket, took a deep breath, and walked into his first class. Luckily, it was chem, one of his best subjects. Not that he would be doing any real school work today. He saw an empty desk towards the left of the room and quickly sat in it before anybody else could. Knowing his classmates, nobody would want to sit next to him, and everybody basically stayed in these seats all year anyway, so he and Ned would be together. The bell rang, and class started, so he knew he was right about the seating. He also was right about what the class would be like, as they only went over the syllabus.

His day went fine until lunch, when he bumped into Flash with no sign of Ned. The other boy was leaning onto the lockers next to his, effectively blocking him if he wanted to enter the cafeteria.

"Hey, Penis Parker. What's up?" The bully taunted, malice in his voice.

"What could you possibly want, Flash?" Peter rolled his eyes and closed his locker.

"Oh, nothing. Just to make up for the humiliation I faced last time I saw you." He cracked his knuckles and tried to make himself seem taller, even though Peter had an inch or two on him.

"Oh, you mean when you tried to beat up on me, but Iron-Man showed up and helped me out?" He replied cockily.

"Yeah. That." Flash's angry grimace deepened.

"Oh, really?" Although he knew he shouldn't be provoking the bully, he just couldn't help himself.

"Yep. Because there is no way Tony Stark will show up to save you now. What, does he just happen to be here for another 'intern' thing?" He paused and, seeing the look of   
realization dawning on Peter's face, smirked at him. "That's what I thought."

Peter didn't even try to defend himself. If he did, things would just be worse, and he might give up his identity by accident. So, he took the punch Flash threw, hoping that his healing factor would repair his busted lip, light nose bleed, and probable forming bruises. After that, Flash got bored and headed into the cafeteria to get his lunch and Peter snuck away to the bathroom to clean up the blood on his face.

After looking slightly better (or at least presentable), he headed to the cafeteria and scarfed down his lunch. Luckily, at the end of lunch, he saw Ned walk in. "Peter, hey!"

"Hey, Ned! How was Kansas?" He enthusiastically asked, genuinely excited for him because Ned had been talking about this trip for a month. These were his favorite cousins and they lived in an interesting area, so he got to do a lot of cool things.

"It was a lot of fun! I hadn't seen my cousins in a while, so that was great." Ned smiled happily and pulled out his phone to show his best friend some pictures.

"That's awesome!" He pointed out after seeing Ned attempting to fly an old time-y looking plane.

"Wait a second…" Peter crossed his fingers, hoping Ned wouldn't notice. "Did Flash beat you up again? Your lip is all swollen."

"What? No, I'm fine." The teen arachnid swore, trying to brush off the other boy's concern.

"Seriously dude, you should go to the office." Ned insisted.

"I can't! Then she'll call Tony! He cannot show up at school here, then everyone will find out!" Peter was whisper yelling now, trying to get his point across without attracting any attention.

"Oh, I guess that's true. Your healing factor should help you out, right?" Ned asked hopefully, praying he was making the right decision by letting Peter go straight to class.  
"Yeah, it should." Peter replied, hoping that was actually the truth. He stood up and dumped his food in the trash, heading for the door.

"Okay. If anything, else happens today, please go though, alright?" Ned pleaded, tagging along behind him.

Peter just brushed it off again and entered the hallway. "Yeah, of course."

Peter did not have anything else happen to him that day. In fact, the rest of his day was as great as he expected. Except for his throbbing lip and nose of course, but nobody else seemed to notice. Or care. He had so much fun in biology with MJ and Ned, as they played this trivia review game (that they dominated of course). They set a date for their first decathlon meeting, which excited him so much, now that he was able to (and forced by Tony to) fully participate this year.

But while nobody else had acknowledged Peter's injury today, Tony certainly did.

"What the hell happened to you? Don't give me any of that 'clumsy' bullshit, you have your damn spider senses. So, what was it? That asshole kid, Flash? I swear to god-" Tony ranted, the second he got a good look at Peter's face.

He sighed, dabbing at his lip with the towel Tony passed him. "Tony, seriously, I am fine. Really."

"Nope, I don't buy it." He rolled his eyes, but the kid could tell how serious he was.

"Seriously, though! It happened at lunch, and I barely feel it now." Peter insisted.

"I can see it throbbing from here. Why didn't anybody else see it?" Tony leaned in closer to him to fully inspect his injuries before pulling out of the parking lot.

"I appear clumsy at school and always pop of with random injuries." He shrugged, opening his backpack to pull out a form he needed to fill out.

Tony nearly slammed on the breaks when he reached the red light, screaming "What? Why?"

"Spider-Man!" Peter gave him a 'duh' look.

"Right. But anyway, you have to do something about this, Peter!" Tony seemed pretty worked up, which made Peter worked up.

"And what? Fight back and reveal my identity? Turn him in and make it even worse? Have you come in a show everyone that I am not some random intern to you, that I am your kid? I have my accelerated healing and it keeps him from doing it to other people instead, who can't take it as well as me." While he started out upset, by the end of his rant his voice was quiet and low.

"Ugh, I guess you're right. But I still don't like it." The older man relented, turning onto the Tower's street.

"I know." Peter agreed.

"Please promise me that you will do something if it gets too bad?" the genius asked hopefully.

"Yeah, I will." Peter said. Although he told the man that to make him happy, he knew that wasn't the truth.

"How is Ned?" Tony asked, changing the subject.

"He's great, he had a lot of fun on his trip." Peter replied.

"That's good. How was the rest of your day?"

"So much fun." The kid grinned.

Tony glanced over at him and smiled. "As good as you hoped?"

"Definitely." Peter paused and glanced at the billionaire. "Do you mind if we watch TV tonight and eat ice cream out of the tub anyway?"

"Of course. That sounds great, kid. Want to patrol for a little bit first?" He offered, already knowing the answer.

"Oh my god, yes." Peter smiled even bigger, if that was even possible.

"Okay. You can suit up when you get home but be back by dinner." Tony offered.

"Got it." The kid nodded.

Pretty soon after, he was swinging through the city. "Woo hoo!" He yelled, swinging around a corner. Man, he had really missed constant patrols. Maybe now that school was back in session, he could do his afterschool patrols like he did with May before going home. That seems like something Tony would be on board with.

He quickly spotted a robbery of a convenience store and swung down to help. Luckily, they seemed to be amateurs and he ended it quickly. There were a couple more minor thefts, one robbery, and a lost old lady. He was back right on time for dinner.

"Nice of you to show up!" Tony teased.

"I am only two minutes late! C'mon, Tony!"

"Yeah, yeah. Just sit down and eat."

They finished their Chinese food and started their show. They were halfway through their second episode of Brooklyn Nine-Nine, when Tony's phone rang.

He stood up, pulling his phone out of his pocket. "Hey, sorry kid, it's Steve. Is it okay if I take it?"

"Yeah, go ahead. Do you want me to pause it?" The kid offered.

"Nah, it's fine." He waved him off and Peter shrugged, turning back to the TV.

Tony headed into the other room and the second he answered the phone he heard Steve's voice on the other end, erratic and panicking. "Tony, we need your help."


	11. Chapter 11

TONY

Steve, on the other end of the phone, erratically spoke out, "Tony we need your help."

Tony immediately flew into action, "lay it on me cap." He called his suit, the tech immediately wrapping itself around him. Peter, seeing this, rushed to get his suit on as well.

"There has been an escape at the raft. Three of HYDRAs top hackers have escaped and sources have said they recently met up with five more of their best assassins, and more of them are grouping up." Steve rushed out the explanation.

"Okay, got it. No offense, Capsicle, but why is this such a big deal?" Peter sprinted back to Tony, suited up, and he put the phone on speaker.

"Because they didn't just escape… they gathered intel. They know the weaknesses of all of the Avengers, have the blueprints of the tower, and Tony… they know about Peter."

It felt as if the wind had been knocked out of the kid. "They… they know about… me?"

"Yes." Steve spoke solemnly. "Luckily, they don't know about your 'extracurriculars' but they do know your guardianship."

Tony threw his head back taking a deep breath. "How far out are you guys?"

"Let me check," he heard Clint curse in the background and the crash of a glass. "Now." They heard the thump of the Quinjet hitting the track, and moments later Steve, Natasha, and Clint tumbled in the door.

"Do we know when they are coming?" Peter asked, uneasily, glancing around. At that moment, the lights cut out and everybody was basked in darkness. The boy chuckles uneasily, "I guess that answers my question."

The ceiling gave a low buzz and FRIDAY spoke, "Sir, I seem to be experiencing some mal-mal-malfunctions. My internal-nal wiring systems have been com-comprom-" The robotic voice cut out.

They sat in silence in the dark before the billionaire broke the silence. "Alright team – game plan." Tony's suit retracted, and he instead opted for his wrist bands. "I shouldn't wear my suit because clunky metal and bright blue lights aren't necessarily good for stealth. We need to figure out a way to take out the assassins. That's our first priority. The problem is, they could be anywhere. Clint, crawl through the airducts in the tower and try to spot them. Natasha, check the upper levels, Steve, the lower, and I'll check our personal floors. Luckily, when FRIDAY has been compromised, our floors are sealed off from the civilian areas of the industry, not that many people would be here at 1:42 am. Plus, usually people don't stick around when offices completely lose power in the middle of the night. My point is, no civilian endangerment. Let's meet up here at 2:30 and see where we are. If one of us doesn't show up then we should just assume they have been compromised. That sound fair?"

They all nodded, except Peter. "Wait, what do I do?"

"You, kid, need to go to the labs in the Hulk-Out room. It is secure, and you won't be hurt." Tony insisted.

"What? No way. I want to help!" The kid responded adamantly.

"I agree with him, kid. This is too dangerous." Clint chimed in.

"Yeah, no. I am helping out. Please, Tony. I'll do it even if you do not want me to!" Peter began to beg.

"Fine. The nerds in the labs are likely to not be very trained, so you can try to get them. If you do or they aren't there, focus on getting back FRIDAY and the power." Tony relented.  
The teen arachnid grinned. "Hell yeah."

"But no suit." Peter's face immediately fell. "You can keep your web shooters, but if they catch a kid in the suit in a seemingly empty tower, with no sight of Peter, they will put two and two together." The kid seemed to understand, so he nodded his head and allowed Tony to continue. "God, I wish the others were here. Even Sam, though I cannot believe I am admitting that out loud. Alright, team, let's go. Good luck." They all split apart to go their separate ways.

"Hey, Peter?" Tony called out to him before he headed downstairs.

"Yeah, Tony?" He questioned, confused.

"Be safe, okay?" He grinned, gave a mock salute, and hopped onto the ceiling.

Tony was alone. Not that he would ever admit it to the rest of his team, but he was scared. He was scared that he would be assassinated in the middle of the night in his own home, which used to be a safe place for him. He doesn't have his suit. He doesn't have FRIDAY. He doesn't have the team. He was so vulnerable it was annoying. He was afraid this would be the end of cap. The end of Clint. The end of Peter. Jesus Christ he was so scared for Peter. The poor kid was by himself, trying to undo a complicated hack, or fighting HYDRA agents, or trying to survive against professional agents.

He wandered around the hallways, jumping at every shadow. His tower had never felt so utterly empty before. While he was thankful for the little light the arc reactor provided, the shadows made him jump subconsciously every time he moved. He eventually ended up near Peter's room the last place he hadn't checked on this particular floor. He gripped his small handgun tighter in his hands and rounded the corner. Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted a black blur, moving towards him at rapid speeds.

CLINT

This sucked. Yes, he loved the feeling of being pumped with adrenaline. Yes, he loved feeling useful. Yes, he loved being on missions. Holy shit, did he love climbing through the vents. So, maybe he was having a little bit more fun with this than he should. Although, while he found it fun and exciting, that doesn't mean he was grateful for the situation. Peter was stuck somewhere by himself completing a difficult task. He understood how much the kid wanted to do this, but that didn't make it right. The least he could do was try to find the assassins before they could find him. He has kids, he knows what it's like. He couldn't even begin to acknowledge how Tony must be feeling.

He crept along the vents, quickly, but silently. He was able to cover the two floors above their starting point and had finally dropped down to the floor where Tony was to double check and make sure the man was okay. He first checked Peter's room, because that seemed like the main place the assassins would be. It was a good thing he did, because he noticed a man crouched behind a dresser, almost completely invisible, when Tony entered the room. He launched himself out of the vents, knocking the billionaire to the side and out of the way of the oncoming bullets. He quickly pulled out a shock arrow and electrocuted the man.

Tony breathed a sigh of relief next to him, "thanks, man. God, I don't know what I would have done if you hadn't showed up."

"Died?" Clint offered, helpfully.

"You know what, for once in my life I try to be genuine. It was wasted on you, Hawk-ass. It's never happening again." He smirked at him, but they both got the genuine feelings in their banter.

"Okay, one down, four to go. I wonder how Natasha and Cap and Pete are doing." Clint wondered aloud.

STEVE

"Alright… alright… alright…" Steve sighed, moving up to the next floor. "Where are you… c'mon…" The empty stairwell was daunting at best. So many shadows were projected from the flashlight, and because it was a back stairwell, it was pretty sketchy. He carefully creeped along the wall, just to be safe. It's a good thing he did, because moments later, he caught a glimpse of a person on the flight above him, and we would've easily been spotted had he been in his previous position.

"All clear in side stairwell. How is it coming with the kid?" Steve froze. Peter. "Fantastic. I'll head down to you now." Now, it would be irresponsible to head down to the labs where multiple highly trained assassins are.

Of course, he followed the assassin to wherever he was going in hopes of finding Peter before something bad happened. He descended the stairs as quickly and silently as possible. When he arrived at the floor the assassin near him had stopped at, it was dark and empty. Weird. Unless…

"Well, well, well, looks like Mullins was correct. He did fall for it." Steve spun around and was face to face with one of the five assassins – well, the gun of said assassin.

"Oh my gosh, this was all a setup, wasn't it?" Steve sighed, unable to believe he had played right into their trap.

"Duh. One mention of Stark's brat and you came runnin', just like we expected. Unfortunately for us, that little bastard gave us the slip. Luckily, we at least got you." He glanced behind Steve and gave a slight nod of his head. Before Steve could even turn around, he felt a sharp prick in his neck and the world went dark.

NATASHA

She took out one of the assassins in two seconds flat. She noticed the woman crouched in a corner, almost completely invisible on the floor above them. If she wasn't a trained assassin, she wouldn't have noticed. Without every ounce of experience, she has, she never would've been able to beat the woman at silent hand-to-hand combat. The assassin pulled out this vile or shot thing and tried to inject it in her, but she knocked it out of the way. Luckily, she got close enough to whip out her concealed knife and leave a deep wound on her shoulder. She would definitely be out of commission, if not dead in minutes.

She slid the shot into her pocket, just in case, and continued up the stairs but didn't encounter a single other assassin. She hoped the others were okay. She checked the small watch on her hand – 2:03. 27 minutes until she needed to regroup with the others on the main floor. She decided to abandon the upper levels and find Clint or Steve.  
Unfortunately, Steve found her before she found him.

"Natasha!" She spun around and came face to face with the captain. Who was aiming a gun at her face.

"Woah, woah, woah, Steve. What's going on?" She tried to reason with the deranged super soldier. He smirked in response and fired. She quickly ducked and ran towards him. He swung his shield out, but she quickly dropped and swung her legs out, tripping him. He fell over and she jumped on top of him, but with his super strength he was easily able to knock her off. She tried to kick him, but his shield blocked it. A gunshot went off and she quickly turned to see that it hadn't come from Steve, however, that meant that another member of the team might be in trouble. She took a deep breath and focused on the task at hand. They did that for a while, kick – block – punch – dodge – block – kick. Eventually, she jumped up onto a nearby pipe in the ceiling, swung off and kicked him square in the face. She pushed him to the ground and, because she quickly tazed the man, knocked him out. She tied him up with some random wire laying on the counter next to some spare parts. Probably another random robot Peter was building. Fortunately, whatever was controlling him was not nearly as skilled as the actual Steve was, otherwise she would not have been able to beat him at all. The knife in her leg really stung however, so she knew that she would have to find somebody else, with or without the risk of them being possessed as well.

She checked her watch a second time – 2:22. Perfect timing. Time to see how epically screwed she was.

PETER

Oh god, he was so epically screwed. He headed down to the lab feeling so vulnerable without his suit. So exposed. Luckily, he still had his web shooters, so he knew he would be somewhat okay. Tony was right, it was very easy to take out the hackers in the lab. He webbed their mouths shut and then knocked them out. He pulled his sleeves down over the web shooters in case somebody else was to come in. Unfortunately, it was not just the hackers in the lab. One of the assassins (he assumed), emerged from a closet and wrapped his arm around his collarbone and put a gun to his head.

"Tell me where the rest of your team is, Peter." He mockingly spat. "Before I shoot this bullet through your brain."

"I don't know!" He pleaded, falsely upset. "They told me something was happening, and that I needed to go to the lab where I would be safe!"

"Ha, like we're gonna believe that." The man behind him gave an evil sounding chuckle. "You mean to tell me these men these men took themselves out?" He walked Peter over to them and leaned down to get a closer look at the webs on their mouths, the gun not leaving his head. "What is this crap, spider webs?"

"No, seriously! I had nothing to do with that! It was all Spider-Man! Look at the webs, that is the big part of his whole aesthetic!" Peter pleaded, letting some (mostly) fake tears roll down his cheeks. "I just got down here, promise!"

"Ugh, pathetic." Once he had determined Peter wasn't a threat, he lowered his guard, which was the perfect opportunity for the spider kid. He reached up, grabbed the gun, pulled on the man's arm, twisted it behind his back, and shot him in the leg with his own gun. He quickly shoved an old towel in his mouth, wrapped some spare rope around him (you could find practically anything you needed in the lab), and shoved him into a closet with the other two.

He quickly got to work attempting to bring FRIDAY back up. He was going to need way more time because yeah, he was smart, but this was Tony Stark level stuff. More brilliant than Peter, even on the kid's very best day. He checked the time, and seeing that it was 2:26, decided to head up to their meeting floor. A guy dressed similarly to the other assassin had other plans.

TONY

At 2:30, Natasha joined them. "Steve's been compromised. They gave him an injection of some sorts by the look of a mark on his neck, and he is against us." They nodded, a little fearful and a little upset. Each of them filled another in on their adventures. "So, there are at least three assassins left, depending on if Peter or Steve took any out. Speaking of which, where is Peter?"

"Oh no, oh no, oh no…" Tony whispered frantically, only he replaced 'no' with something a little more colorful. He paced back and forth, panicking, because it was 2:35, he checked, and Peter was nowhere in sight. "What if he's been compromised like Steve? I swear to god if any of those assholes touched one hair on his head, they will regret the day they were ever born."

"Okay, lets calm down Tony, and think rationally. Maybe he came close to bringing FRIDAY back up, so he stayed?" Clint offered hopefully.

"Nope. He would've sent me some sort of message." Tony shook his head.

"Okay then, new plan. Tony, you go try to find Peter. Clint can try to find the assassins and I'll try to bring FRIDAY back up. I know a little bit about hacking." She smirked. "If anybody finishes, we can meet in the lab and try to find a cure for Steve. Got it?" Clint and Tony nodded at the Black Widow, so she sauntered to the stairs to get to the lab.  
Clint gripped Tony's shoulder firmly, but with kind intentions. "It will be okay, Tony, it isn't your fault. You will find him. He's a tough kid." The billionaire nodded, so Clint hopped back into the vents.

Tony wandered down the steps, as quietly as possible, when he heard it. Clink. Clink. Clink. It was so faint, it could've been a leak in the pipes. He listened anyway, and it was a good thing he did, because he could hear that it was Morse code. He has used Morse code multiple times in the past when he had been kidnapped or in a tough situation, and he had been telling Pete about that the other day… that must be him. He paused for a second, listening to it before translating, T-O-N-Y. That was proof that it was, in fact, Peter. He gripped the gun tighter and peered around the corner. There was one assassin standing in front of a smaller figure who was chained to a pipe. He moved as close as he could without being seen. He could barely make out the shapes in the dark, but it was definitely his kid. He could hear snippets of the conversation.

"What the hell is that clinking noise. It is driving me insane!" The man barked at the teen.

"I-I-I don't know, sir. Ms. Potts has been complaining about this-this leak that was bothering the workers and how T-Tony needed to-to fix it." The kid appeared to be shaking, but he could see him clinking the chains against the pole behind him subtly. Tony wouldn't have seen it had he not been where he was.

"Hmph. Anyway, Mullins should be sending out a single to your dad right about now, telling him ransom for you. No use not gaining a little cash in this process. You aren't even the one we need to kill." He gave a grin. "Not that he would probably pay it. If he is anything like his father, he'll be too busy with his own personal agenda to notice." Tony and Peter both flinched at that, so Tony took it as his cue. He stepped out from behind the corner and shot the guy in the lower abdomen.

"That is false, asshole. You bet your ass I would get my kid." He saw Peter give a small smile. He quickly ran over to the man on the ground, who was quickly bleeding out, and took the key off of him so he could help Peter.

"Thanks, Tony." He sighed and rubbed his arms where the chains were wrapped across them. "By, the way, about the thing he said about your dad-"

"Later, kid, okay?" Peter nodded. "You alright?" Tony asked, concerned.

"Yep, I am now." He gave the older man a small, sheepish smile. "How is the rest of the team?"

Tony sighed, "Steve's been compromised." Peter frowned. "Natasha is trying to finish hacking into FRIDAY, so she is probably okay, at least for now. Clint is going after some of the assassins so who knows how he is." Tony shrugged.

"Why don't you ask him?" Clint darkly smirked from behind.

CLINT

Clint once again found himself scooting along the air vents. He loved his job. He was keeping his eye out for an assassin when something caught his eye in one of the sub kitchens on a lower floor. He dropped down and rolled to the side. He ducked behind a vending machine and saw an assassin creeping along by the counters. He rolled out to the side and shot at the man (he assumed). Unfortunately, the man was able to duck, and shoot out a few shots at Clint. Then, surprisingly, he launched himself at the bird themed hero, and knocked him to the ground. They rolled around getting in a few punches, until the assassin grabbed a knife that was strapped to his leg and stabbed it into Clint's leg. He was momentarily stunned by the pain and the assassin took that moment to stab a needle into his neck and inject him with some sort of drug. He was out in seconds.

PETER

"Woah, woah, woah, Clint. What's going on." Tony asked, carefully stepping in front of Peter.

"Sorry, Clint is currently unavailable. Please leave a message or try again later." The man automatically replied.

"At least he didn't lose his sense of humor!" Peter chirped. Tony turned his head around to look at the boy and gave him a "c'mon!" look, so Peter shut up.

"Clint, come on. Work with me here. Do you really want to be mind-controlled? Again? Try to fight it dude." Tony asked, almost pleading.

"The only thing I will be fighting is you." Tony turned around and immediately knocked Peter to the ground right as an arrow flew over his head.

"Thanks." The kid breathed out.

Tony immediately called his suit to him. "Sorry Clint, but I can let you hurt my kid." There it was again – 'his kid'. He hadn't just imagined it when he heard Tony talk to the man that had taken him. He couldn't help but smile, despite the dire circumstances. Tony's kid. That was fine by him. He was pulled back into the present by Tony blasting the man back into the stairwell. "Run, Peter! Natasha is in the lab, she'll be able to help you."

Now, that was something Peter was under no circumstances doing. Like he would ever leave Tony to fight an Avenger by himself. No way in hell. He shot a web out and it latched onto Clint's bow. In the moment that Clint went to use his knife to cut the web loose, Peter pulled with all of his strength, and it flew out of his hands. It looked like they might   
actually take him down!

He thought that too soon. Right when the bow hit the floor, Steve appeared behind Clint, cracking his knuckles.

Peter glanced at Tony uneasily, and the older man mouthed at him "run." So, he did.

Peter used a web to launch himself over the two possessed avengers and down the center of the stairwell. He shot a web up to the ceiling and slid down in like a pole until he reached the lab floor. Tony lowered himself down in the suit next to him. They heard the thump of Steve landing behind them and Clint was sure to follow. They ran as fast as they could into the lab.

NATASHA

She was so close to getting FRIDAY back up. Like, 5 more minutes would be fantastic. Unfortunately, when Tony and Peter came barreling into the lab, furiously barricading the door, she knew she didn't have that much time.

"What do we do?" She asked, less curiously, more frankly.

"We need a cure." Tony kept his summary short and sweet. "Do we have a vile of whatever is turning the others against us?"

Natasha pulled out the shot she had picked up earlier. "Barton's been compromised?" Peter nodded, while Tony ran over to a desk and started frantically pulling out chemistry equipment.  
"I might be able to have this cure done in ten minutes." A large bang rang out through the lab, and a dent appeared in the door. "Five if you can buy me some time. I am doing this with only the light of my reactor and a few flashlights, don't you forget."

The two other heroes nodded and prepared for the Captain and Hawkeye to enter. The door burst down and Natasha immediately launched herself at Clint, she had the element of surprise, so she managed to knock him over. The engaged in an intense hand-to-hand combat battle, each one equally matched by the other. It wasn't until he finally slipped up (because this wasn't the actual Clint, of course), that she was able to hid him in the skull with her elbow and knock him out.

"A hah!" Tony yelled out. The previously purple vile was now green. "Inject this in to Steve, Peter!" He tossed it to the kid who launched himself of Steve's back, caught it midair and rolled across the floor. He took Steve's momentary confusion to slide under his legs and stick the needle into his neck. The super soldier fell to the floor.

"Look at that! I beat Captain America!" Peter called out proudly.

"You know that Steve wasn't as his full strength, right? The serum given made his judgment cloudy and-" Natasha started.

"Shhhh." Tony cut her off. "Let him have this."

TONY

They quickly gave the cure to Clint as well and they all managed to breath. They stood there for a second, breathing heavily. Tony had just managed to calm down some when he caught a glimpse of someone in all black. The last assassin.

He barely had time to open his mouth before a gunshot rang out through the lab. Pain flared through his leg so bad, he almost completely toppled over. He looked down and saw a bleeding hole through a rip in his sweatpants. He looked up to where the assassin was, and saw Steve, pinning him down.

"You alright, Tony?" He asked, concerned.

"Yeah, cap. I'm good." He responded back, giving the man a small smile.

"Holy shit! You're not fine! You go shot!" Peter yelled out, rushing over to the man. Tony wrapped him in a tight hug.

The lights flickered back on and everybody looked over to Natasha who smiled up at them from the computer. "Fixed it."

"Alright." Tony called out clapping his hands, which didn't shake off Peter, who was still wrapped around his torso. "We need to stitch up this bad boy-" He gestured to his bleeding leg. "before I completely lose all feeling, then how about we order something. Tacos? Anybody up for Tacos?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys!! I usually don't write notes but there were a couple things I wanted to say. The first being that OMG THANK YOU GUYS SO MUCH FOR YOUR SUPPORT!!!! It is really insane how much positive feedback I am getting and it makes me so, so happy. I just wanted to let you all know. :) Something else I wanted to mention is that I am thinking of doing some one shots in this verse. Is there anything specifically you guys would want to see? I also would definitely take some requests for this specific story too. The final thing I wanted to say is that this story is also up on fanfiction. I have posted a few more chapters on that site if you really want to speed through the story, but I write new chapters really slowly as opposed to a (somewhat) consistent update schedule on this. That's also why if I get any requests or anything it might be a few chapters in the future. Anyway, sorry for the really long note, and I hope you enjoy this chapter!!!! :)


	12. Chapter 12

Peter groaned as his alarm went off. He clumsily smacked his bed side table trying to turn off the disturbance. He eventually just gave up and climbed out of bed shuffling around in the dark trying to get ready for school. He pulled on his t-shirt and jeans, brushed his teeth, and then re-put on his shirt because the first time it was backwards. Finally, he was decent enough to leave his room.

"Hey kid." Tony was standing in front of the fridge pulling out various foods, probably because he was going to attempt to make breakfast.

"Hey, Tony." He glanced around exasperatedly, looking for Tony's crutches. His gunshot wound from the break-in last week was pretty clean, so there wasn't very extensive damage, but he still was should be wearing a brace and using crutches. "Should you be walking?"

"Probably not." He shrugged, hobbling over to the cabinet to get out a few plates.  
He rolled his eyes and sat in the chair. "I'm disappointed, but not surprised."

"Please don't tell Banner." He whispered to him mischievously, as if he was actually afraid of the doctor.

"I won't." Peter reassured the man.

"or Cap." He told him a little bit more serious.

Peter thought about Steve's look of disappointment and was a little bit less sure. "I'll do my best."

"Or Nat?" He asked, both serious and hopeful.

"No promises." Peter told him, not even bothering to cover up how intimidated he was by the spy.

"I figured as much." He nodded, understanding where Peter was coming from. He faltered for a moment before asking, "Are you sure you're ready to go back to school?" Peter had   
been in the hospital by Tony's side for half of the week, and then helped repair the tower on that Thursday and Friday, so he hadn't been to school in a week.

"I told you this a million times, Tony." He sighed but wasn't actually angry or upset with the man. "I'm okay. Really."

"Alright, I believe you." He nods.

"Plus, Mr. Harrington has been really cryptic about this big news that he is apparently announcing in homeroom today because whatever he has been subtly dropping hints about has been approved, so I don't want to miss it." Peter adds.

"Understandable." Tony turns around and checks the clock, before turning back to Peter. "Hurry up and eat and then I'll drive you."

"You can't drive me." He points out, looking at the man's injured leg.

"Hurry up and eat and then I'll make Clint drive you." The billionaire corrects, smirking as the archer appears behind him.

"Better." Peter approves.

"What am I doing?" Clint asks sleepily, extremely confused.

Peter runs back into his room to finish getting ready and leaves Tony to deal with the archer. When he reenters the kitchen, Clint is much more awake and aware.

"Alright kiddo, let's go." He calls to Peter, as Tony tosses him the keys to one of his many cars.

"That is a terrible nick-name, please don't ever call me that again." Peter groans.

"Sure thing, cupcake." Clint replies, smirking.

"God, that's even worse."

The drive to school is filled with many jokes and in about ten minutes, they reach Midtown High. Peter climbs up the steps to school, when he hears Clint call out from behind him, "Bye, have a good day, Pumpkin!"

He turns around and gives the man his best death glare. "I'm going to kill you."

Clint just blows him an exaggerated kiss and drives away. Peter continues up the steps and enters the school, heading to his locker. He is immediately greeted by Ned.

"Hey, Peter. How's Tony?" He asks, concerned.

"He's back to being a reckless idiot, not that it ever stopped. He was walking around with just his brace this morning, and he was explicitly told not to walk without crutches for at   
least another week." Peter explains, rolling his eyes.

"That's good." Ned encourages, before pausing. "I think."

Peter chuckles, "yeah, it is." The two find themselves in front of their homeroom. "Now, let's go see what this exciting announcement is."

They enter, and the room quickly fills up. In a matter of minutes, Mr. Harrington has taken his place at the front of the room to explain the lesson. "Alright class, are you ready for your big news?" The whole class nods, both uneasy and excited.

"Well, because of some of the connections our faculty and staff have, we will be having a guest speaker come and talk to your grade about college, the job market, and most importantly – science."

The class erupts in excited whispers before Mr. Harrington tries to calm everyone down. "Quiet, students. I haven't even told you who it is yet."

"Well spit it out!" Flash yells jokingly, as he was as excited as everybody else in the room.

"Tony Stark." Mr. Harrington says proudly.

Flash whoops, and the whole class chatters excitedly. Peters jaw drops. Tony obviously knew this was coming and didn't tell him? He was going to embarrass him in front of everybody. And what if they all find out? He definitely didn't want his classmates to know that he lives with Tony Stark and the rest of the avengers.

"Did you know?" Ned whispers to him.

"Definitely not."

When he gets back to the tower, he slumps on the couch, still in a sour mood from the news earlier that day. He pulls open some unopened fruit snacks from his lunch and puts on a movie bitterly. A few minutes later, Tony strides into the room, still without his crutches.

"Hey, kid. What's up? How was school?" He plops down next to Peter on the couch.

"Fine." He shrugs, eyes staying purposely glued to the TV.

"Did you find out who the guest speaker was?" Tony asks eagerly.

Peter sharply turns to the man as his suspicions were confirmed. "Wait a minute… I didn't tell you there was a guest speaker. Only 'big news'."

Tony curses under his breath. "Dammit."

"So, you knew and didn't' tell me?" Peter asks, raising his eyebrows.

Tony looks like he is about to deny it, but instead just owns up to it like a sheepish child who drew on the walls. "Yeah."

Peter groans. "Are you going to embarrass me?"

"What? I would never." He mocks hurt, putting a hand to his chest in fake betrayal.

"Tony!" Peter insists, giving the man a look.

"Okay, I am going to. Just a little bit." He puts a slim amount of distance between his thumb and pointer finger as an example.

"Just please don't say anything about our… situation?" Peter asks honestly.

Tony senses his change in mood from mocking exasperation (he knew that kid well enough that while he was positive that he hated the situation, it wasn't anything against Tony) to something actually serious. "Okay that I seriously wouldn't do."

"Okay, thank you." He smiles, before relaxing against the couch.

"Relax, it is only for one day." Tony frowns, thinking for a moment. "Or two."

"Two? You're coming back?" Peter cries, standing up to face him.

"No, that isn't it." Tony shrugs.

"Then when will everybody be seeing you again?" The kid asks, suspicious.

"You'll find out on Friday, I guess." Tony chuckles before standing up and brushing past him.

"I swear-" Peter begins to threaten.

"Toodles!" Tony wiggles his fingers before disappearing into the stairwell to go back down to the lab.

Friday came way sooner than Peter would've liked. Before he knew it, they were all being ushered into the gym and onto the sticky bleachers. Fortunately, he and Ned weren't crammed in the back. Unfortunately, that was because they had front row seats. Tony had asked the school to put them there, so he was 'more comfortable' and had 'a friendly face to look at in the audience.' The school absolutely ate it up, even though both he and Tony knew that it was total bullshit. Tony has been smug ever since.

"Are you ready for this?" Ned asked him.

"Absolutely not." Peter slumped down in his seat, trying to avoid the eyes of his classmates. They all were starting to believe that his internship was true, but still wanted a piece of the action.

Tony stepped on stage and everybody quieted. He had discarded his crutches completely by this point, much to Peter, Pepper, Bruce, and Steve's dismay, but he seemed to be walking fine, so they all dropped it. He took of his signature sunglasses and tucked them into his jacket pocket before charismatically grinning at the audience. "Hey guys." They all erupted in cheers. "So, I am here to talk to you about a bunch of boring stuff… and science!" He brightens up with a huge grin, and everyone is paying really close attention. Honestly, Peter can now see why everybody wants him for these things. Not that he would ever tell the man, but he is really good at this. "So, you all will be going off to college soon. It may be next year, it could be in four years. Either way, now is the time to start prepping." He goes into how competitive science and math fields are and how to bulk up your resume, still keeping it light and silly so people are entertained. "You know what a really great thing would be for you all? To come intern with me." He smiles at Peter specifically at this point, and his face burns with embarrassment. "For example, I have a few college age interns doing various things, but only a couple high-school students. One of them is actually in this room. Peter, why don't you stand up and wave to everybody." He did as he was told but hated every second of it. He could already hear the whispers spreading. "Yep, the internship is a real thing. If you are interested, the school has some stuff for the application process, and you can just do that. To motivate you guys, and maybe to give an additional look to those who have been there, next month, each grade will get to tour the building and see some of the labs. The avengers may or may not be there, that is always a surprise." Peter lets out a light chuckle at how true that statement is. Nobody else even gets it. "I know, fun right? So, look forward to that. It is… next month I believe? Principal Morita?" He looks to the principal for confirmation.

"Yes, Mr. Stark."

"Great! I'll see you all then." He flashes one last smile at the audience before disappearing off stage.

"Did you know about this either?" Ned asks him.

Peter laughs, "I am so far out of the loop, Ned, you don't even understand."

They all file out of the gym and everybody is stopping at their lockers, getting their backpacks together, and heading home. Peter sighs and drops into a bench by the front office, waiting for everybody to clear out before Tony can drive him back. Finally, it is pretty empty and Peter thinks everything is good, until Flash passes him.

"What's the matter, Penis? Don't got a ride?" Flash mocks as he passes him.

"They're almost here, Flash." Peter shrugs, his eyes still focused on his phone game.

"Oh, your aunt finally deciding to show her face at the school? If I didn't know any better, I would think she was dead or something." Flash smirks.

At that moment, Peter almost lost it and practically threw himself at the boy. Luckily for both Peter and Flash, Tony had stepped out of the office at that moment, and quickly grabbed him before anything happened.

"Peter!" He scolds, pushing himself between the two teens.

"Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god." Peter sits on the bench, pressing his hands against his head. If Tony hadn't stepped in, things could have gotten bad really quick. Peter should not have lost control. Hell, he could've killed Flash if he wasn't careful.

"Dude! I- uh, Mr. Stark, I mean. Did you just see that? Is he gonna lose his internship or something?" Flash asks, the hint of a smug grin on his face, which made Tony seethe with fury.

"What? No!" He scoffs. "What I just saw was you taunting him about dead relatives and something possibly sensitive to him. Obviously, he shouldn't have lashed out, but it was an understandable reaction."

"Well it's not like she is actually dead." Flash crosses his arms and rolls his eyes.

Peter knew the momentary feeling of superiority would be something he regretted later, but he impulsively did it anyway. "Yeah, Flash. She is."

"Maybe you should go." Tony frowns gesturing towards the door. Flash stands there for a few seconds, his mouth in an 'o' shape, before running through the front doors.

"Oh, shit!" Peter yells, pushing back his hair frustratedly as he panics.

"You just told him." Tony looks worriedly to the kid.

"I just told him." Peter repeats, flopping back down on the bench. "Everybody is going to know now."

"You don't know that." Tony tries to reassure him, but it is futile.

"Don't I?" Peter snaps, but quickly takes it all back. "Sorry, this isn't your fault."

"Hey, listen kid. All he knows is that your aunt is dead. He would have to be a real douchebag to flaunt that around and use it against you. He has no idea who you're staying with   
or if I have anything to do with it, okay?" He rubs his shoulder comfortingly, as he leads the kid out of the school and towards the car.

"Yeah, you're right." Peter admits, before his mind drifts back to the still seemingly catastrophic problem. "But he still knows!"

"I know. I'm sorry." Tony sighs, as he starts the car.

"It's alright. He was going to find out eventually." He shrugs, trying to brush it all off and put it out of his mind. It doesn't work, though.

"Wanna go get some ice-cream? I don't know about you, but I could really use a scoop of that weird mint blueberry stuff from Lila's." Tony offers as he takes a different route.

"Yeah, that sounds good." Peter agrees. "Thanks."

"Of course, kid." He turns, gives him a genuine smile, before turning back to the road.

"We are so talking about that field trip later." Peter threatens, with a dark chuckle.

"yeah, I saw that coming."


	13. Chapter 13

"A field trip, huh?"

Natasha, Clint, Steve, and Peter were all in the living room of their communal floor. Clint was playing video games, Peter was doing homework, Steve was doodling, and Natasha was sharpening her knives. It was the day before the field trip and all of the avengers were smug, especially Clint. Despite that fact, Natasha was the one who approached the subject in this instance, though all of the present avengers immediately placed themselves into the conversation.

"I hate you all." Peter groaned.

"Oh c'mon, pumpkin-" Clint chuckled.

Peter interrupted, "That isn't a thing Clint!"

Clint continues over him, "it won't be that bad!"

The elevator dings, as Pepper Potts enters the floor. "You're right. It won't be."

"Oh, hi Pepper." Clint smiles innocently.

"You guys cannot expose Peter like that." She frowns.

"What do you mean?" Steve asks curiously.

Pepper sighs, before explaining. "If anybody finds out that he lives here… then things could get really bad for him. The press, his school, college, everyday life…" She trails off.

"Oh… I didn't think about that." Clint looks at the floor sheepishly.

"That's what I thought. So, nothing big, bad, or dangerous. Got it?" She looks at them expectantly.

"Yes, Pepper." They all chorus, even though she was specifically directing it towards Clint.

"Hi, Peps! What's up?" Tony smiles, kissing her on the cheek as he enters the room.

"Peter's field trip is tomorrow." She reminds him.

"Yeah, I know." He pulls a piece of pizza from the box in front of Peter before plopping onto the couch next to him.

"So, I am telling the team what exactly they cannot do." The woman elaborates.

Tony frowns. "Yikes."

"She is sucking all the fun out of everything, Tony!" Clint complains.

Tony, thinking back to the fact that Clint has kids, decides to ask him. "Is she saying anything untrue or that you don't secretly agree with?"

Clint pouts for a second before replying, "… no."

"Then shut your trap." Tony orders, bluntly.

Later that day, Peter is in the lab working with Tony on a new robot. Tony's "kick ass robot building playlist" (not to be confused with his "kick ass suit building playlist") is playing quietly in the background, although quiet is a loose term because it is still rock.

"How are you feeling about tomorrow, kid?" Tony asks, glancing up from his circuit board to look at the kid.

"What do you mean? I feel fine!" Peter says, a little bit too enthusiastically.

"Well, I heard some of what Pepper was saying earlier about the press finding out who you were." He says, careful not to be too blunt.

"I'm a little nervous, but it's okay." The kid shrugs, eyes still on the wires in front of him.

"Really?" Tony asks, skeptically.

"No, I am freaking out a little." Peter sighs, leaning back in his chair.

"Come here kid. I am going to walk you through the field trip, okay? You will know what, where, and who you are going to see. Will that help you a little bit?" Tony pushes back   
from the table and glides across the room in his wheeled chair to his holographic table.

"Yeah, that sounds great!" Peter mimics his actions so they are now sitting next to each other with Stark Tower illuminated in front of them.

"So, you are going to get on the bus at about nine, to get here about nine thirty. You are going to enter here-" he points to the main entrance to Stark Industries, "because you have to go through the lobby to get badges or whatever. Then, you will tour the first floor of the building with all of the history and stuff like that."

"Sounds boring." Peter chimes in.

"Totally is." Tony grins at him before continuing. "But next, you take the elevator up to the thirty third floor, where you will look at the labs. After that, you go to the food court for lunch. Then, you all get a lecture from Pepper about business."

"Sounds boring." Peter repeats.

"Definitely. I'll pop in maybe once or twice to see how you all or doing, but nothing to obvious or suspicious, don't worry. I'll keep the other Avengers in line too." He nudges him conspiratorially at that last part.

"That would be amazing." Peter sighs in relief.

He pats his shoulder, trying to comfort him. "Has Flash said anything recently?"

"Huh?" Peter questions Tony.

"About what happened last week?" Tony tries to explain.

"Oh... uh, no. He has been surprisingly nice, actually. Well, at least for him." Peter shrugs before shrinking down into his chair ever-so-slightly.

"That's good, right?" The billionaire asks, confused.

"I mean, kind of. On one hand, it is good to get him to finally lay off. But also, I don't want to be treated differently."

"I get that." He ruffles his hair and changes the mood a little bit. "Don't worry, Pepper and I still think you're a loser."

"Wow, thanks." Peter jokes.

"No problem, kid." He smiles fondly at the boy. "But seriously, it'll all be okay. Relax."

It wasn't okay. Things went wrong the second they stepped through the door of the building. Well, not wrong per se, but people were suspicious of Peter from the beginning. One of the college interns was waiting for them by the door and immediately headed over. "Are you guys the group of sophomores from Midtown High?"

"That's us!" Mr. Harrington chirped.

"Great. Follow me and I will give you your badges." They all trailed behind the young girl to the front desk, where there was a stack of badges with each of their names on it.

"Now, don't even think about pulling anything funny because these are only guest passes. This means you can only access certain designated locations and they only work temporarily." She explains, eyeing Flash and his friends wearily.

After everybody had picked up their badges, Peter was left without one, which made everyone suspicious. "I'm sorry, what is your name? I don't think I have a badge for you."

"I'm an intern here, so I already have a badge." He replied, pulling it out of his pocket. It looked like a regular badge, but it had his picture on it with a couple of Spider-Man stickers.

"Oh, right! I was told that. Sorry." She smiled sheepishly.

"It's alright." He smiled back.

They all scanned their badges and entered the elevator.

"Eugene Thompson. Level one clearance. Access granted." Flash stepped inside.

"Ned Leeds. Level one clearance. Access granted." Ned went in.

"Michelle Jones. Level one clearance. Access granted." MJ followed.

Peter visibly cringed as his badge was announced. "Peter Parker. Level ten clearance. Access granted." This led to a ton of questions.

"Woah, why does Peter have level ten?" Flash called out.

"Because I intern directly with Ton- Mr. Stark." He almost slipped up and called him 'Tony' which would have been very bad.

"That sounds fake." Flash rolled his eyes.

"Can you offer a better explanation?" MJ challenged, though she was still eyeing Peter a bit skeptically.

They were taken up to the first floor, which was basically a museum about Stark Industries.

"Okay, so here is the history of the building." Their guide, Ayla, led them through it, pointing out various parts and explanations. It was all fine until a certain blond super-soldier appeared with his bird-themed friend.

"Hey, is that Captain America!" One of the girls called out and pointed to Steve by the stairwell.

"Oh my god, it's Steve Rogers!" Another student called out.

They all swarmed him, "Can we get a picture?"

"You have got to be joking." Peter rolled his eyes, as he and Ned hung back.

"What about me? Do I just not exist?" Sam sputtered from next to the Captain, making Peter and Ned grin.

"Sorry, kids. I was just on my way out. I can stay for a few minutes, but that is it. Besides it looks like you are on a field trip." He glanced over to Peter standing in the back and addressed him. "oh, hi Peter."

"You know Captain America?" One of Flash's friends asked him.

"Perks of working here, I guess." He tried to explain, but it was weak. Luckily, everyone was too preoccupied to notice the hesitance.

A few minutes later, they were able to finish the tour of this floor. They saw original arc reactor models, stuff about Howard Stark's founding of the company, Tony's achievements, etc. It wasn't too long, but it was still mostly stuff Peter knew so he found himself bored.

"Okay, here are the labs." Ayla announced, leading them inside. The teenager's eyes were wide as they took in the pristine labs and cool technology. It seemed like this part would be great, until Peter caught Bruce's eye.

"Seriously?" He whispered to Ned, who had also noticed him.

"Oh, sorry. I wasn't aware that you guys would be in here." Bruce smiled sheepishly and trued to excuse himself from the room. He couldn't get very far before he was bombarded   
by the class.

"Dr. Banner! You are so cool!"

"Oh, yeah, thanks. The Hulk-" Bruce starts, tiredly, but is quickly interrupted.

"Your work in gamma radiation is unparalleled. It is incredible."

"Seven Ph.Ds? That is insane!"

"Oh… um, thanks." Bruce said, taken aback by the fact that he was known to these kids for science, not the big green rage monster.

Dr. Banner managed to sneak out after that so they could continue their tour. After twenty minutes of rumbling stomachs and complaining, they finally went to the food court on the fourth floor.

"I cannot believe we saw two Avengers today. You are so lucky, Peter!" A passing girl called out to the kid.

"It would be insane to work here. I am totally going to apply for an internship." Her friend told him.

"You are just getting all of the ladies now, aren't you, Parker." MJ smirks, sliding into the seat across from him.

"Yeah, seriously." Ned agreed, taking the seat next to MJ.

"He gets it from me." Tony winks, sitting next to him. The man has a baseball cap and sunglasses so he can go "incognito."

"Oh, hey Ton- Mr. Stark." Peter quickly corrects.

"Oh, shut it with the formalities, kid. Nobody else is present other than them." He gestures to the kids in front of him. "So how has the tour been?"

"Incredible!" Ned gushes. "We saw three avengers. Three!"

"Bruce, Sam, and Steve." Peter elaborates.

"Oh, wow Mr. Stark! Your building is soooo cool. The labs were great! The history is so interesting! You are my favorite avenger!" Tony says in a high pitched voice, mocking Ned in a friendly way. "Really, Ned. I'm hurt."

"Sorry, Mr. Stark." Ned smiles, sheepishly.

"Nah, you're fine." Tony waves him off with a light chuckle.

"How do you know Ned?" MJ asks, curiously.

"I have met him a few times through Peter and he is applying for an internship program." Tony explains.

"Interesting." The girl nods, thoughtfully.

"Your disguise isn't working. People are starting to stare." Peter whispers to the man next to them. "besides, you are still wearing your suit and your sunglasses are the ones you wear all of the time."

"oops." Tony takes off the hat and stands up.

"Hello, Midtown sophomores! How are you liking the field trip?" They all cheer. "Wonderful. If you all are done fast enough, I might be able to personally take you to see Miss Potts for your final stop on the tour." That got everyone moving.

Pretty soon, their table was surrounded by teenagers hoping to talk to the famous Tony Stark. MJ, Ned, and Peter were barely able to get out with their lives. They quickly relocated to a bench off to the side.

"So, what is all of this about?" MJ asks, suspiciously.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Ned says, but Peter waves him off.

"I don't really want to elaborate on this, but I know Mr. Stark as a little bit more than just my boss." MJ nods, but doesn't push it, which Peter is grateful for.

Finally, Tony leads them to the conference room where Pepper is giving her presentation. She gives Peter a small, discreet smile, but doesn't say anything. Her presentation is long, but interesting. Before they all know it, they are outside getting onto the bus. They didn't see Natasha or Clint, which Peter was exceptionally grateful for, although a bit suspicious. Either Pepper really got through to them or Tony took extreme measures. Either way is good for him.

"Peter, son of Stark! It is so good to see you!" The Norse God calls out, exiting the front of the building and heading over to the small group of teenagers near the bus.

"Thor?" Peter asks, looking around nervously. Most of the class had boarded the vehicle, so it was only Peter, Ned, MJ, and Flash within hearing distance.

"Son of Stark? What is he talking about?" Flash questions, an incredulous look on his face.

"Peter… do you live here?" MJ asks, actually looking surprised, but less surprised than she should be.

"What is going on, Young Peter? Do they not know that you reside here with your guardian?" Thor asks innocently and confused.

"Guardian?" Flash sputters, as realization dawns on both his and MJs faces.

"Oh shit." Peter whispers under his breath.


	14. Chapter 14

"Alright! Michelle, Eugene, Peter, and Ned, time to get on the bus!" Mr. Harrington called, ushering them all onto the bus.

Peter climbed up the steep couple of steps as if in a trance. Flash kept shooting him weird looks, displaying a mix of disbelief, jealousy, and disgust. MJ gave him weird looks as well, but not in the same way as Flash. She was sitting in the bus seat across from Ned and Peter, and kept displaying hints of sympathy, but also curiosity. Ned was much more upfront about his emptions, whispering various things to Peter, asking if he was okay.

Peter was not okay. He was panicking. Now that Flash knew, what was the point in keeping it a secret? He would tell _everybody._ His whole life was over. No longer was he the "Loser Peter Parker" or "Dickwad." He would be "Tony Stark's son" or whatever. He wasn't sure which was the worst part of it. He didn't want to be famous. Not like this.

"You should probably call Mr. Stark." Ned whispers in his ear, shocking him out of his pity party. Nothing has happened yet, so he might as well minimize the damage.

"Oh yeah. Thanks, Ned." Peter gave him a small smile before pulling out his phone.

"Dude, are you sure that you are okay?" Ned asks him, concerned.

Peter brushes it off with a light, "Yeah, I'm fine."

"Really?" Ned insists.

"I just need to talk to Tony." Peter explains.

_Tony, I need you to text me back ASAP. Emergency_ Peter sends.

Tony replies only seconds later. _What's up?_

_Flash and MJ. They know_

_Know what?_

_That I live with you in the Tower. We saw Thor on our way out_

_Oh shit, kid. Does anybody else know?_

_Luckily it was just us and Ned_

_That's good._

_Good?!_

_Little victories. What should we do?_

_I don't know._

_I'll come pick you up and we can talk about this when we get home. For now, try to breathe._

_Okay, thank you._

_Of course._

They pulled into the parking lot and the whole class filed into the school. Teacher started to heard them towards the gym, but Peter managed to break away and head to the office where Tony was. Peter managed to catch the tail end of their conversation.

"Yes, thank you for understanding." Tony tells his principal, shaking his hand.

"Of course, Mr. Stark. Tell Peter that I hope he feels better." Principal Morita replies.

"I will, thank you." Tony smiles, partially genuinely, but also slightly fake, like when he talks to reporters or the business men and Stark Industries.

Tony leaves the office and notices Peter. He gives him a small, sad smile, and they head out to the car parked in front.

"What am I going to do?" Peter asks, once they were buckled in.

"How about this: We go to the coffee shop near here. We get drinks and those really good sandwiches or cake pops or whatever. Then, we go back to the tower." Tony says seriously, pulling out.

"That sounds great, but how does that help my predicament?" Peter questions.

Tony explains, "Because you are really panicked right now. This happened about twenty minutes ago. So, we go do something fun, and you try to put this out of your mind for a little bit. Then, by the time we are back at the tower, you have a clear head and we can come up with a logical solution to all of this."

"Okay." Peter tells him, because that makes sense. Despite that, his mind couldn't help but wander to that moment early today when he saw Thor…

"Stop thinking about it!" Tony scolds him, lightly smacking his arm to get his attention.

"I'm not!" Peter tries to defend, but it was useless.

"Yes, you were." The billionaire insists.

Peter groans exasperatedly, "I can't help it!"

"Try harder. You are ruining Phase One of the plan." Tony frowns, with no real hard feelings behind it.

"Alright." He sighs, before pulling out his phone. "I'm putting on some music."

"I don't want to hear any of your usual garbage, mix it up." Tony says, not even needing to glance at Peter's playlist.

"I do not have garbage music." Peter tries to argue.

"Ed Sheeran? Marshmallow? Come on." Tony rolls his eyes.

"What would you like to hear?" The kid asks, sarcastically.

"ACDC." The older man responds without needing to think about it.

"Compromise: Queen." Peter offers.

"Deal." He accepts.

Peter picks the song "Brighton Rock" which is one of their shared favorites. They played a few more songs on the way to the shop, and after a few more minutes, they were there. Tony pulled on his baseball cap and sunglasses and they headed in. The door chimed with the little bell as they pushed open the door. There was no line, and only a couple people scattered throughout.

"What can I get for you?" The barista asks.

"One snickerdoodle hot chocolate, kid's temperature, with extra whipped cream." Tony repeats what Peter told him in the car.

"Tony!" Peter complains, hearing the temperature comment.

"It burned your mouth last time!" Tony replies, chuckling. He turns back to the barista, "One vanilla latte."

"You drink _vanilla lattes?"_ Peter sputters, surprised.

"Yes? Do you have an issue with that?" Tony asks, eyebrows raised.

"I just took you as more of a 'four shots of espresso and one packet of sweet n' low' kinda dude." The kid explains.

"Espressos are for the morning, obviously." Tony leans onto the counter, muttering, "Ugh, kids."

"Will that be all, sir?" The barista asks him, giggling. Peter rolls his eyes.

"No, I would also like two cookie dough cake pops, one cookie, and one slice of banana nut bread." The billionaire recites.

"Okay, your total will be $15.42." The woman pushes the credit card machine towards him.

"Thanks." He grins.

They head to a small table in the back to wait for their order. Peter looks around the quaint little store, taking in the decorations. He notices a small little butterfly drawing taped to the wall in the back.

"What do you think butterflies' taste like?" Peter asks, randomly.

"They don't taste good." Tony responds, without missing a beat.

"What?" Peter looks at Tony, extremely taken aback.

"You asked me a question, and that is all you get!" Tony tells him, before standing up to get their orders.

They head out to the car, carrying a ton of various things that Tony ordered. They are back to the tower in a matter of minutes.

"Alright, lets head to the couch." Tony says, placing all of the stuff in the table in front. Surprisingly, Phase One of the plan worked, and Peter had forgotten about the situation for a while.

"What am I gonna do, Tony! Everybody will know now that Flash knows. If he is the one to expose me like this or if he finds a way to use this to his advantage, he gets so many benefits and no consequences! The only reason I am pretty sure he hasn't said anything while I am gone is because he wants some sort of reaction from me." Peter sighs, leaning his head against the back of the couch and rubbing his forehead. "Oh, I have a solution!"

"Really? What is it?" Tony asks, surprised.

"I don't ever go back to school." Peter deadpans.

"Oh, shut it." Tony rolls his eyes, before offering a valid solution. "Why don't you just talk to him?"

"What?" Peter looks at him, surprised.

"He may be a bully, but he isn't a psychopath. Just tell him the truth." He offers hesitantly.

"Yeah, I-I guess." The kid admits, that isn't a bad idea.

"And if he does tell? There is nothing we can do. We can hold a press conference or something like that, and just go with it. Either way, it will all be okay." Tony awkwardly pats his shoulder, trying to comfort him.

"Promise?" Peter asks, a little desperately.

"Yeah, kid. I promise." Tony repeats.

The sit in comfortable silence for a few seconds before Peter breaks it by asking, "Can't you just pay him off or something?"

"Peter!"

"Okay, okay." The kid chuckles.

The next day after school, Peter is at decathlon practice with Flash. He figures this is as good a time as any to talk to him, no matter how nervous he is.

"Hey, Flash. Can I talk to you for a second?" Peter asks, a little timidly, from an empty table in the back.

Flash heads over to him, rolling his eyes. "What do you want?"

"I need to talk to you about what happened the other day after the field trip." Peter says seriously.

"Oh, you mean when I found out that you were-" Flash grins, but Peter quickly cuts him off.

"Shhhh." He sighs, looking around the room warily to see if anybody had heard them. "Seriously, dude. I need you not to say anything."

"Why should I keep my mouth shut?" Flash asks, defiantly.

"Because I know it'll make you seem cool for a second, but it will ruin my entire life." Peter deadpans.

"Really? Your entire life?" Flash asks, with his eyebrows raised in disbelief.

" _Yes._ " Peter insists.

"Alright, chill. I won't say anything. On one condition." Flash offers, leaning back casually in the chair across from him.

"Yeah?" Peter asks, a little bit anxious.

"I want to meet Spider-Man." Peter breathes out a sigh of relief. That isn't an issue.

"Okay, done. I'll talk to him and get back to you tomorrow, I guess." Peter tells him, standing up.

"Alright." Flash stands up as well and starts to head back over to the rest of the group before turning back to say, "Oh, and Parker?"

"Yeah?" The other boy responds.

"Don't think this makes us cool or some shit. Just because Tony Stark feels bad for you doesn't mean I have to."

When Peter got back home, he was really thrown off. Something about Flash's comment was really off-putting. He knows he shouldn't listen to Flash, but something in him holds onto that small comment.

"How did it go with Flash?" Tony asks, appearing from the kitchen.

"He is meeting Spider-Man tomorrow after decathlon practice, but other than that, good." Peter replies, heading to his room.

"Good!" The billionaires face lights up, and he offers. "The team might be coming over later, do you want to do something in the lab or-"

Peter cuts him off, "Actually, I have a lot of homework. Maybe tomorrow?"

"Yeah, okay." Tony's face falls a little bit, but as soon as it was there it disappeared.

That night, Peter laid in bed, trying desperately to fall asleep, but Flash's comment keeps coming back to him. "Does he really feel bad for me? Is that why he does this?" "I mean, I'm Spider-Man, and if he hadn't taken me in, I would have been in… foster care. Oh my god. Is that why I'm here? Is Flash right?"

Peter finally falls asleep but is pulled into a nightmare of sorts. _He was standing on a building near the water, the picture mirroring what happened after the ferry-boat accident. The Iron-Man suit arrives, and Peter carries out a few lines with it. Eventually, the triggering line came – "If you even cared you'd actually be here." Peter expected the suit to open up and Tony to suavely step out, but nothing happened. Instead, an empty suit just hovered they're in front of him, reminding Peter how Tony didn't care._

"Hey, hey, kid. Calm down." Peter is shaken awake by Tony, who is now leaning over him.

Peter quickly scoots into a sitting position and wipes the still-running tears from his face. "I'm sorry. I'm really sorry for waking you up."

"It's no problem. Really, I'm okay. I was up anyway." Tony brushes it off, but Peter knew it was a lie.

"No, you weren't, you have lines on the side of your face from your pillow." Peter points out, and Tony sighs.

"That isn't anything for you to worry about." He insists.

"Seriously, I'm okay. Just go back to sleep." Peter brushes it off and tries to tuck himself back under the covers.

"Kid, I just-" Tony tries, but is quickly cut off.

"I'm fine!" Peter snaps, and Tony is really taken aback.

"Peter, listen to me!" Tony grabs Peter's shoulders, carefully, but sill with a firm grip, so the kid is forced to look at him. "What is going on?"

"Why am I here?"

"What?"

"Why did you take me in? Is it because I'm Spider-Man? Or because you felt some sort of responsibility for me or something?"

"What brought this on? Did something happen with Flash?" Peter nods silently, and Tony sighs. "Tell me about your nightmare, Peter."

"I was standing on that building next to the water and it was right after the Ferry-boat accident. It started off the same way as it actually happened, but at the part where you actually stepped out of the suit, nothing happened. The suit was empty. It was like you didn't care or something. So please, just answer the question."

"Listen, Peter – that isn't what happened. That night? I did step out of the suit because _I do care._ I took you in because you are Peter Parker. Not Spider-Man. I couldn't send you into the foster system because _I care about you_. Okay?" Tony sighs, rubbing his face, a few loose tears also making their way down his face as well. Tony wraps Peter in a tight hug. "I just… have trouble expressing emotions well. If I ever made you feel like you were just a burden or a responsibility or anything, I am so sorry, because that isn't true. You're my kid, Peter."

"Thank you." Peter sighs, leaning into the billionaire. "I'm really sorry."

"Shut up, you have nothing to be sorry for." He rubs his shoulder comfortingly, before leaning against the back of the bed frame, Peter still tucked into his side. "Do you want to go back to sleep?"

"Um... not really. But I'll be fine, so you can-" Peter tries, but this time he is the one cut off.

"I can put on a movie. FRIDAY?" Tony asks the AI.

"Yes, sir?" FRIDAY responds.

"Play Star Wars, Episode VI."

The movie starts playing on Peter's tv and the kid curls into Tony's side just a little more.

"Night, kid." Tony whispers to him.

"G'night, Tony." Peter says back.

That is where Pepper found them the next morning – Peter curled into Tony's side while he is sitting up, both of them asleep and drooling.


	15. Chapter 15

Mr. Harrington clapped loudly, getting all of the kids' attention. "Alright, guys. Here's what's happening."

Peter was sitting in the front of his chemistry room next to Ned for a Science Olympiad meeting. At these meetings, the people who are in the club, which are him, Ned, MJ, Flash, Betty Brant, and a few people from different grades, study for tests on science related subjects and work on building contraptions for the competition. For example, at the state tournament in two weeks, Ned is taking a test on fossils, while Peter has been building a robot for the robotics section.

The class focuses their attention from their individual projects to the teacher standing at the front of the room. "For those of you who weren't here yesterday, the state competition is in two weeks. Now, we all did really good at regionals, but that is no reason to get cocky and too comfortable. Your results were good. Great, even. But to win this thing, we need to step up our game. Those of you taking tests need to study even more bizarre information. 'The mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell' isn't the kind of questions that will be on these tests." The kids who were taking the tests nod, which encourages Mr. Harrington to continue. "Those of you working on engineering projects need to work harder too. Think outside of the box." Peter nods along with the rest of them. "Great, now get out of here. The new episode of the Bachelor is on tonight and so I need to get back as soon as possible." They all laughed at that, though his teacher didn't seem kidding, so it fell to a flat form of amused disbelief.

Peter stepped outside of the school and headed over to where he saw Happy's car waiting for him. He hopped down the steps before sliding into the backseat. "Hey Happy."

Happy rolled up the divider before Peter could even open his mouth to ask him more questions. Peter grinned at Happy's classic grouchy attitude and pulled out his homework. He got most of it done by the time he reached the tower, so he was immediately able to go find Tony in the lab.

"Hey kiddo, how was school?" Tony asked, spinning around in his chair to see Peter and give him a wide grin.

"It was boring and pointless, I have better things to do." Peter shrugged, smiling at the older man. "How were your meetings?"

"Boring and pointless. Got better things to do." Tony said, quoting the teen in front of him.

"Really sucks to be us, doesn't it?" Peter told him, wiping a fake tear from under his eyes.

Tony barked with laughter and ruffled the kid's hair, making his nose scrunch as he tried to push his hand away. "How was your science Olympiad practice?"

Peter sighed, pulling out his laptop to continue working on said robot. "It was rough. I was able to work on the coding for my robot, but it is missing that extra something that would make me win."

"Je ne sais quoi?" Tony asked.

Peter frowned. "What?"

Tony laughed at his cluelessness before explaining. "Je ne sais qua. It is the French term for something special that cannot be explained."

"Oh, got it. Yeah, that's exactly what I need!" Peter grins, happy to be understood.

"Okay, I have a solution." He pushed off from the desk, his chair sliding across the floor until he was directly in front of a white board. He picked up one of the markers, uncapped it, and then turned back to Peter. "Brainstorming session. Rapid fire. Any cool idea you have for this robot, no matter how insane, goes up on this board for the next thirty seconds. Go."

Peter was taken aback, confused, and his first few suggestions were hesitant to come out, but he quickly gained momentum. "lasers. Read minds. Shoot a bow and arrow. Fly. Climbing. Sticky. Open bottles. Web shooters. Sign language. Flip people off. Jump up and down."

"Stop!" Tony cried out, effectively pausing the activity. "Thirty seconds are up. Let's look this thing over. Most of these ideas are terrible, I am not going to lie. We are not giving this thing powers and letting it use profanity."

"You're no fun." Peter frowned.

"Shut it, pipsqueak. I like climbing, that seems plausible. What kind of robot is this? Full sized, mini, one that looks like a tank, or just the arm like Dum-E?" Tony continued.

"I was thinking a small robot that could do stuff, like one of those wind-up toys but better. Pick things up and bring them to me." Peter elaborated, shrugging.

"That's awesome. What about if you have it not only be able to pick things up but climb around. Aware of its surroundings, you know?" Tony suggested, hopefully. He wasn't hopeful that Peter liked his idea for his own ego, but more like the satisfaction that he could help the kid.

"Yes!" Peter hopped up, grinning. "That is amazing! Do you think I could actually do it?"

"For sure. You are pretty brilliant kid." Tony beamed.

They worked all night on it. Peter coded things and tested them out while Tony checked his work and made some suggestions. By ten o'clock they had the whole thing complete and ready for a full test.

"Come on, Tony. Please?" Peter begged with his puppy dog eyes.

"Absolutely not. It is a school night, you haven't had dinner, and you still have homework to do." Tony explained, unrelenting.

"Fine." Peter huffed, heading upstairs for dinner. While he was in the kitchen with Tony, they ran into Pepper.

"Hey, boys. What have you been up to? I haven't seen you all day!" She asked them, getting some food of her own.

"Working on a robot for a science competition." Peter replied, stuffing his face with cereal.

"That's cool! Is it done? When is the competition?" The woman questioned him, intrigued.

Peter elaborated, "It is almost done, just in its final testing stages. The competition thing is next Saturday."

"I'm not doing anything next Saturday… do you mind if I come?" Pepper offered.

"Are you sure? I know you're busy and everything, I don't want to make you feel like you have to come or anything, and-" Peter rambled on, slowly becoming redder in the face.

"Peter!" She grinned, interrupting him. "It is no trouble! I would love to. Just send me the details, okay?"

"Okay." He smiled, shyly.

"Alright, Spider-Kid. Finish up your homework and get to bed." Tony stepped in and picked up his empty plate.

"Fine. Goodnight, Pepper. Night, Tony." They returned the sentiment and he headed to his room.

The next weekend, it was time for the competition. He was up bright and early so he could meet up with the team. Tony drove him, despite the teen's protests. Peter thought he could catch a ride with Ned or something, as to not bother neither he nor Pepper, but obviously Tony was having none of it. So, Tony took Peter to a convention center at ten thirty in the morning and Pepper was to come later once his main event started.

He entered the center and was immediately taken aback by how cool it was. There were about fifty schools there from all over New York, so the place was crowded. There was a bunch of official science-related machines and inventions on display, including something close to a freeze-ray. Peter had read about it and was completely in awe. Tony was a bit impressed as well, Peter could tell, not that he would ever admit it.

Because he was there so early and one of the kids had the flu, Peter stepped in and helped Ned with his fossil test and helped Betty with water pollution levels. Both tests went better than Peter could have hoped. Finally, at two o'clock it was time for the robotics event.

Peter collected his small robot and his computer, before heading into another room where the competition was taking place. There were multiple tables set up in the middle for the contestants, along with a large area around the tables to hold people who wanted to watch. The judges passed between tables to assess the robots. The teen looked through the crowd of viewers, trying to spot Pepper and Tony. He finally spotted them, towards the back of the crowd. They had perfect vision of his area, but their placement, along with the "disguises," made them less conspicuous to everybody else. They gave him a small thumbs up and he felt even better about his upcoming trial.

Peter's run through was intense, to say the least. The judge came by to see his robot, accidentally knocking one of the obstacles over. Peter held his breath as the robot neared it, as the little toy now had to climb over a tall bridge instead of passing over it. The robot was able to climb over the obstacle with ease, which demonstrated its abilities better than Peter could have possibly hoped for. The rest of the trial went great.

After a couple more minutes, the robotics competition was over, and the competitors dispersed. Pepper and Tony immediately came and found Peter.

"That was incredible! You are so smart, it amazes me." The woman gushes, pulling him into a tight hug.

"Thanks, Pepper." He smiles, cheeks turning red from all of the praise.

"It was alright, I guess." Tony shrugs, nonchalantly, but he can see the pride shining in his eyes nonetheless.

Pepper elbows him in the side, as Peter retorts: "Better than you could've come up with."

Tony makes a dramatic show of being taken aback by that accusation. "Psh, as if."

"Want to go find the rest of your group? They are going to give out awards in about thirty minutes, after the bridge building competition wraps up." Pepper informs them. At their confused looks, she elaborates. "I read the schedules. They are posted everywhere." She sighs, seeing how clueless they were. "For two geniuses, you all are pretty dim." She smiles fondly at the two before turning around and heading towards the other side of the room.

"I better go catch up to her. See you later, kid." Tony tells him, ruffling his hair.

With that, Peter turns around and finds the rest of his school. It was sort of a mini adventure, trying to find them in this crowded room, but luckily it didn't take long. The first person he spots is Betty, who is waving her arms trying to get Flash's attention from somewhere to Peter's right. Next, he spots Ned, who immediately rushes up to talk to him.

"Hey Peter! How did your competition go?" Ned asks him, beaming.

Peter replies, equally as enthusiastic. "It went awesome, thanks! Sorry I wasn't much help on the exam."

Ned brushes his self-depreciation off easily. "Hey, you knew two questions. Better than nothing! Especially better than me being by myself in there."

"I guess that's true." Peter replies, grinning sheepishly.

Ned looks around, confused for a second, before asking Peter, "Hey, are your…" he fumbles for the right word, "guardians? Is that the right term?" Peter nods, and Ned continues. "Are they here?"

"Yeah, they are wandering around somewhere. Didn't want to call attention to themselves." He tells the other boy, shrugging.

"Oh, that makes sense."

"You can say hi later if you want." Peter suggests, which immediately makes Ned's face light up like a Christmas tree.

"Oh… um…yeah… that would be… cool? Cool. Very cool." Ned tells him, trying to play off his excitement.

Peter snorts at his friend. "Okay, Ned."

The students all mingle for a few more minutes, both within their own little group and the schools surrounding them, until the other competition is done. A few moments later, Pepper and Tony casually wander up to him. Ned does his fanboy thing very briefly, before they start announcing results. Ned and Peter came in third place for their test. Betty and him didn't place in the top three, which were all that was being announced, but hopefully they were close. At last, it was finally time for Peter's robotics competition.

"Alright, ready for the results?" Pepper asks, squeezing his shoulder excitedly.

"As ready as I will ever be." Peter exhales, nervously.

"In third place, from Queens School of Science is Blaise Zabini!" They all clap politely as a boy around his age climbs the stage for his award.

"In second place, from Manhattan High is Zacharias Smith!" Peter felt his hope dwindle a little. It was unrealistic for him to get first place… right?

"In first place, from Midtown School of Science and Technology is Peter Parker!" Peter rushed through the crowd to get to the front and except his award, with a smile so wide his face hurt. He could hear everybody he knew screaming at him from the back.

"Woo!" Ned cheered.

"Go Peter!" Pepper yelled.

"That's my kid!" Tony screamed, making everyone around him laugh. That was funny to Peter as well, as he doubted the other parents knew who was yelling.

He headed back to the group, where everyone congratulated him and gave him a pat on the back. It was a great feeling. Especially the fact that Tony had yelled that Peter was his kid in front of everybody. Nobody knew who he was, but still. He was proud of him, and not afraid to show it.

His face fell slightly as he saw Flash walk up to him. "Wow, Parker. Way to go. Are you sure this isn't because…" Flash looked behind him and the bully's smirk fell a little. "I mean, I'm sure this _is_ because you worked really hard."

"Thanks, Flash." Peter said smiling.

He turned around to see Tony right behind him, eyeing Flash. I guess one good thing came out of Flash knowing about Tony – his guardian can shoot down Flash anytime he wants. Suddenly, he heard a faint crash from the other room.

"Tony. Did you hear that?" He quickly asked the older man behind him.

"Hear what?" Tony asked curiously.

"That noise. Like glass breaking?" Peter elaborated.

The billionaire glanced around nervously. "I didn't hear it, but I trust you. Which direction did it come from?"

"Back towards the entry hall with all of those inventions." The teen pointed to that general direction.

Tony quickly whispers something to Pepper, who nods. Tony starts walking quickly, but subtly towards where Peter said it came from. Peter followed close behind. They rounded the corner towards where the inventions by actual geniuses start.

"Woah!" Tony said, startled, jumping back. Peter could feel the air drop about twenty degrees. "Peter get down."

For once in his life, Peter listens. He backs around the corner, but still keeps his head peeked out from around the wall. A man wearing all black, including a ski mask, stands in the hall holding the freeze gun.

"Tony Stark. I'm surprised to see you here." The man chuckles. His voice sounds strangely familiar, but it doesn't spark any direct memories to Peter, so he is left questioning the identity of the masked man.

"Looking out for possible interns. You know, recruitment and stuff." Tony shrugs. He can see his arm slightly shaking, probably out of nerves, but you couldn't tell from his firm voice and stone face.

"Hmmm." The man seems suspicious, but doesn't take it further.

"Why don't you just put the gun down and we can talk this out." Tony steps forward, arms out cautiously. "There are kids around.

"I know there are kids, that is why I am not sticking around. My beef is with you, and you only. So why, might I ask, would I turn myself in?" The masked man shoots ice out of the gun, too close to Tony for Peters comfort. "See you around, Iron Man." With that, he bolts out the front door. Peter and Tony chase after him, but by the time they get outside, there is no sign of him.

Later, they were all at the tower, filling the Avengers in on the situation.

"So, this weird guy stole a freeze ray gun?" Sam asks, somewhat suspicious.

"Yes." Tony replied simply.

"Got it." The other man replied, nodding, as if this was a normal thing. Though, he supposed, this probably was not even close to the weirdest thing these people have seen.

"Remind me again, are you sure we are allowed to go after this guy?" Wanda asks uneasily, glancing around at the other members.

"Yes. Don't worry, the Accords have been fully fleshed out and nothing here is illegal. Trust me, I checked." Tony assures her firmly, leaving no room for doubt. Despite this, she still looks towards Steve.

"He's right." Steve agrees.

"So, do you need our help with this?" Natasha asks, sharpening a knife, which was making Peter a little bit nervous.

Tony waves him off, and lightly puts "No, I think I've got this. Besides, he seemed to have something personal with me anyway."

"Then shouldn't you be the last person to do it?" Bruce asks, worriedly.

Tony shrugs. "No use getting more people hurt then needed."

"If you're sure."

The billionaire grins reassuringly, "Besides, if it is just a regular guy, how dangerous could he be?"


	16. Chapter 16

Tony woke up with a groan. He flipped over, expecting to see Pepper, before remembering she was at a conference in Tokyo. He frowned and attempted to rub the sleep from his eyes, to no avail. His eyes still felt heavy after his restless sleep. At least he didn't have any nightmares.

He finally found the strength to pull himself up and out of bed. He glanced at the clock – 6:03. He wasn't sure if Peter was up yet, but he assumed that he was still sleeping as FRIDAY didn't alert him. He brushed his teeth tiredly before stumbling down to the commons area.

It took him a minute to realize why he wasn't feeling his best, before he remembered the events of yesterday. The dick who stole the freeze ray gun from the convention and could have harmed hundreds of kids. Fantastic.

When he reached the floor, he ran into Clint, who was drinking coffee and watching tv.

"What's up, Stark?" He called, not looking away from the screen.

Tony sighed and plopped down onto the couch next to him. "The news? Really?"

"I'm doing research." Clint explains vaguely.

"For?" Tony asks and the archer gestures to the tv.

"Take a look."

"Wow." Tony watches in screen as the news is reporting on what happened at the science fair.

"Yeah." Clint turns to him and gives him a genuine look of concern. "Are you doing good?"

"Yeah, what makes you think I'm not?" Tony chuckles lightly, though he is concerned that Clint can see right through him.

"Dude. You just adopted a kid-" He starts.

"-guardianship of a kid-" The billionaire interrupts.

"-and now you are going after this weird guy with a literal freeze ray gun. Like something out of a movie." The archer elaborates.

Tony gives him a confused look. "So?"

"I'm just saying, I know we aren't the closest, especially after last year, but if you need to talk, I'm here. I have kids, y'know." He shrugs and turns towards the tv.

"… thanks, Clint." Tony tells him sincerely.

"So, what are you doing about this guy. We should come up with a name for him or something. Like… Frost Fire." Clint smirks and suddenly their usual humorous dynamic is back.

"… that sucks." The billionaire tells him bluntly.

"I'll work on it." He promises.

"Anyway… I'm not really sure." Tony pauses for a second, thinking hard. "Maybe I can track the weapon based on the cold signature it produces. Though, it's October, so it might be a little difficult with the dropping temperature, so he could be anywhere in the world."

"Stark." Clint gives him a look. "He was wearing a ski mask and robbed a high school science fair. I don't think he is looking for global destruction. Besides, he is after you, so he is probably still in New York."

"You make a good point. I'll head down to the lab and start looking into it." He stands up and starts to head to the elevator.

Clint calls out from the couch, "Will you make me popcorn?"

"No."

"Worth a shot." He shrugs.

Tony enters the lab and immediately gets to work. "FRIDAY, pull up a diagram of the freeze ray gun created by Reed Richards." Once the display comes up, the genius immediately follows up with "What is the approximate temperature of the gun?"

"About -400 degrees, sir." FRIDAY answers

"Scan the east coast for places with that temperature." He continues, looking closely at the projected map.

"-400 degrees are emitted from-" FRIDAY starts.

"Tony?" A small voice interrupts his work and he quickly swipes it all away before turning around.

"Hey kid, what are you doing up?" He asks carefully.

"I have school, remember?" Peter asks him, confused.

"It's Monday?" The older man asks, shocked.

He nods. "Yeah."

"Oh, you're right. Sorry." Tony shakes his head, before cleaning up what he was doing.

"What are you working on?" Peter asks, looking over.

Tony sighs, and tiredly rubs his forehead. "Nothing you need to worry about."

"Is it about that ice guy?" The kid presses.

Tony wraps him into a hug. "You are too smart for your own good."

"Can I help?" He asks from his place in Tony's shoulder.

He lets go and pushes the kid towards the door. "Go get ready for school, Pete."

"But-" He tries, but is cut off.

"Incoming call from Colonel Rhodes."

"Patch him through." Tony puts on a goofy grin as Rhodey's face fills up the screen. "Platypus!"

"Hey, Tones." He looks tired. "Can I come by later?"

"Yeah, of course. What's up?" Tony asks concerned.

"Long mission, heading back into New York for a couple days for some meetings and debriefings and need a place to stay." He elaborates.

"Yeah for sure." He looks away from the screen and at Peter, who is standing in the door frame. "Though I rented your room."

"Ha ha." Rhodes laughs humorlessly.

"No like seriously. Your stuff has been moved to a room down the hall." Tony raises his eyebrows and tries to convince him that for once he is being serious.

"What? I liked that room!" The colonel sighs exasperatedly.

"Sorry, honey bear." He smiles, though he doesn't seem sorry at all.

"Who is in it now?" Rhodey asks, confused.

Tony spares another glance at the kid. "Not a conversation we should have over the phone."

Concerned, Rhodey presses "Okay? Nothing bad, right?"

"The opposite actually. You'll see when you get here." He gives him a bright grin.

"Okay? Bye Tony." Rhodey gives a small wave.

"Rhodey." The call cuts out.

"You haven't told him about me yet?" Peter asks quietly, looking down.

"I wanted to wait until he could meet you in person." Tony sighs. "Plus, I'm not sure how he'll react. I mean, he'll love you, but based on how I have been in the past…"

"But we met already." Peter sounds confused.

"He met Spider Man." Tony emphasizes. "Not Peter Parker, who Tony Stark is the guardian of."

"Right." Peter yawns. "Are you going to tell him? About Spider Man?"

"It's not my secret. It's up to you, kid."

"Okay. I'll think about it." Tony nods, and Peter heads upstairs.

"Good plan. Now go get ready."

Later that day, Peter re-entered the tower after school.

"Tony! I'm back!" He calls out, and he walks into the kitchen.

"Hey, kid. Good day at school?" Tony asks, sliding into one of the stools at the counter.

"Same as usual." He replies as he digs through snacks.

"Is Flash still giving you trouble?" Tony asks, watching Peter pull out different types of food.

"Kind of, but not as much as he used to. Don't worry." He opens a small pack of chips and hops onto the counter.

"I'm always gonna worry." Tony gives him a small smile and Peter's face heats up, so he stuffs his face with more chips. "So, what are you doing?"

"Eating a family sized bag of chips." Peter days gesturing to the food in his hands.

"Are you sure about that? Those are for sure a single serving." The genius asks, confused.

"Every bag of chips is family sized when you're an orphan." He shrugs.

Tony chokes on his drink. " _Peter."_

"Is it okay if Ned comes over later? He just texted me and said he was having trouble with the AP Physics homework. He'll only be here for like an hour though; I know Mr. Rhodes is coming over." Peter asks him, avoiding Tony's look of dismay.

"Just call him Rhodey, kid."

"Can Ned come?" Peter asks again.

"Yeah, sure. Does he have a ride? I can send Happy to pick him up." Tony offers.

Peter gives him a look. "Yes, because I am sure that is exactly what Happy wants to do."

"Good thing he works for me." Tony grins.

"Actually, I don't." Happy calls from the living area. He was sitting on the couch watching Downton Abbey reruns on the tv.

"Hey, Haps! Didn't see you there!" Tony calls out happily.

"Of course not. Do I have to pick up Ted?" Happy asks, exasperated.

Peter shakes his head. "N-no he's got a ride. He's on his way."

"Fantastic." Happy says, getting up and leaving.

"Party pooper." Tony frowns. "I'm going to go work on some stuff in the lab, I'll see you later."

"Oh, you're not going to stay up here?" Peter asks hopefully.

Tony gives him a soft look, "Would you like me to?"

"No, it's not a big deal, don't worry. Forget I said anything." Peter shrugs off and focuses on the food in front of him.

"Oh, shit. I just realized I need to finish some paperwork for Pepper. I might have to stay up here anyway." Tony sighs fake-exasperatedly and reaches for the papers on the other side of the counter.

"Oh, okay. Cool." Peter says, though Tony can see the small smile on his face.

"Cool." Tony replies.

A little bit later, they are joined by another kind-of resident of the tower.

"Hey boys, what are you up to?" Natasha asks, sauntering in.

"What are you doing here Nat?" Tony questions, confused.

"Fury's sending me and Sam on an undercover mission, so I'm going to be here tonight." She reaches over and steals some of Peter's food as he unassumingly continues to scroll through his phone. "What's going on with you guys tonight?"

"Rhodey and Ned are coming over." Peter tells her, looking up.

"Ned?"

"Pete's best friend." Tony says, as the elevator dings. "Speaking of which, there he is."

"Oh. My. God." They hear and all turn to see Ned standing there with his mouth open.

"Hi. Ned, right?" Natasha asks, smirking.

"Peter. The Black Widow knows my name." He says, still staring at the Black Widow.

"I know, Ned." Peter sighs but has a small smile on his face.

"She is standing in front of me." Ned elaborates.

"Yes, she is, Ned." Peter agrees.

"I'm meeting an avenger."

"I miss the days when he was star-struck around me." Tony says, mocking hurt.

"Of course, you do." Peter jokes.

"Anyway, I'm going to go train. Enjoy yourselves." Natasha waves and leaves the way she came.

"We will." Tony says.

"Bye miss Natasha!" Peter calls out.

Ned whispers, "That was the greatest day of my life."

"I'm invisible now." Tony throws his hands up in the air and heads to the lab.

Ned and Peter worked on their homework in the living room for about an hour before Ned had to leave. After that, Peter and Tony watched a movie before Rhodey finally arrived.

"Rhodey!" Tony shouted.

"Hi Tony, it's good to see you too. Now, I'm on the edge of my seat. You have been dragging me along for almost twelve hours. What is this mysterious reason that I have to have a different room?" Rhodey asks, looking around suspiciously, before his eyes landed on the teenager next to Tony.

"That would be me, Mr. Rhodes, sir." Peter gave a small, sheepish wave.

"Oh my god." Rhodey's face goes slack.

"It's not what it looks like." Tony quickly says rushing to get up.

"I knew it!" Rhodey shouts rubbing his face tiredly.

"Platypus come on-" Tony tries, but his friend cuts him off.

"I told you this would happen!" Rhodey throws his hands up in exasperation.

"I'm confused." Peter frowns, coming up to stand behind Tony.

"He isn't mine, Rhodey!" Tony finally blurts out.

"What?" Rhodey gives him an incredulous look.

"Well, not biologically." Tony elaborates, looking everywhere but at the colonel.

"What's your name, kid?" Rhodey asks, really looking at Peter for the first time.

Peter stepped out a little from his place near Tony. "Peter Parker, sir."

"You seem familiar." He asked, analyzing him.

"Well, I mean, I just moved in with Mr. Stark- I mean Tony." Tony faltered a little bit, before remembering that Peter had the tendency to refer to him as Mr. Stark when he is nervous or around other adults, despite the fact that they are past that stage.

"Wait a minute." Rhodey says, his eyes widening.

"What?" Peter responds, concerned.

"Say his name again." He demands and the kid shrinks back a little.

"Tony?" He tries.

"No, the other way."

"Mr. Stark?"

Rhodey turned to look at the billionaire with astonishment on his face. "Tony. You didn't."

"Didn't what?" Tony tries but he knows that Rhodey knows what has happened.

"I recognize his voice, dumbass. You brought a fourteen year old kid Germany?" Rhodey exclaims as he goes to sit on the couch. Tony quickly follows.

"I'm sixteen!" Peter protests, trailing behind the two older men.

"We have had this conversation already a million times, Rhodes. I'm genuinely sorry and half-regret bringing him." Tony relents.

"Half?" Rhodey exclaims with exasperation.

"Well, if I didn't, he wouldn't be here right now." Peter sits next to Tony and watches the man with peaked interest.

"Right. Another question I have." He rubs his face before continuing. "Who? What? When? Where? _Why?_ "

"Okay. Let's all take a breath here. This is Peter Parker. Spider Man. Sixteen years old. He lived with his aunt in Queens until a couple months ago when there was an accident. I am his guardian now." Tony explains, with his hand resting protectively on Peter's leg. The sign of affection doesn't escape Rhodes, and his resolve melts.

"Okay, we don't have time to unpack all that right now. Why didn't you tell me sooner?" Rhodey asks, anger leaving his voice and replaced with a hint of sadness.

"Well, we were trying to keep the kid's identity under wraps at first. Then, by the times things got real, you were already deployed. Plus, this is definitely a face to face conversation. How should I tell the love of my life that I am a guardian of a kid?"

"Okay, you're right. _About that specifically._ And quit calling me that or I'll tell Pepper." Rhodes scoffs, shaking his head, but with a bit of fondness in his gaze.

"So, is everything okay Mr. Rhodes?" Peter asks.

"Call me Rhodey, kid." He gives the kid a kind and genuine smile, making him brighten.

"Okay!"

"Now, I'm going to go take a shower and unpack and I'll be out for dinner in about two hours. Okay?" The colonel asks, standing up.

"Okay." Tony agrees, standing up as well.

He looks past Tony to the teenager behind him, "It was nice meeting you, Peter."

"You too, Rhodey!" He chirps.

"Seriously? It took you almost a year to move past Mr. Stark!" Tony protests as Rhodey disappears down the hall.

"Is everything okay?" Peter asks him with a small frown.

"Yeah, kid. He's just like that. It'll all be great. He clearly likes you. He's just mad at me for bringing you to Germany." Tony says with a small frown.

"I don't blame you." Peter insists.

"You should." The older man sighs, which causes Peter to hug him.

"Can we talk about ice guy now?" Peter asks hopefully.

Tony can't help but laugh as he tells him, "Absolutely not."

Peter heads back to his room to finish the last of his homework as Tony heads back down to the lab. He pulls the plans back up that he had brushed aside when Peter entered this morning, as he had been busy with Stark Industries stuff all day and this was the first time he could come back down. He was able to quickly spot the location and decided to make plans accordingly.

"FRIDAY, create a flight plan for Long Island."


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I did my best to research the medical stuff in this chapter but only spent like five minutes online, so sorry if there are inaccuracies in this. I hope you like it!!! :)

"Hey, kid!" Tony greets the boy cheerfully as he enters the kitchen before school.

"What do you need me to do?" The boy asks, eyeing him suspiciously.

"What?"

Peter rolls his eyes, "You're very transparent, Tony. I can tell you want something from me."

"I have meetings all night, is there any way you can go home with Ned?" Tony asks hopefully.

He shrugs, "Yeah, I can ask him at school."

"Okay, thanks." Tony says, breathing a sigh of relief. Thankfully, Peter didn't ask any questions. Obviously, he wasn't going to meetings, they were long and boring. He had much better things to do. Now that he had Peter taken care of after school, he was free to go and hunt freeze ray guy. He couldn't do it if Peter was here though, as the kid would definitely want to help out and Tony doesn't want to put him in that kind of danger.

"Hurry up and eat your breakfast so we can get you to school." Tony pushes, as Peter rapidly shovels cereal into his mouth.

"I'm going as fast as I can." He says, spitting Lucky Charms out all over the counter.

Tony sighs and ruffles his hair good naturedly before passing him. "Let me go grab my keys and I'll meet you in the garage."

"Okay." The kid says, hoping out of his chair and putting his bowl in the sink. As he goes to enter the elevator, however, Pepper steps out.

"Oh, hi Peter!" She says, giving him a small side hug.

"Hi Pepper! Long day ahead?" He asks, tightening the straps on his backpack.

"Actually, my schedule is pretty clear today, why?" She questions, a confused look crossing her face.

"Oh, Tony mentioned something about having meetings all day." He tells her and she checks her schedule.

"None that I know of… maybe he got the wrong date?" She suggests.

He hums in response and enters the elevator.

He finds Tony already waiting by his most conspicuous Audi. "Okay, kid, ready to go?"

"Yep!" He chirps, sliding into the passenger's seat.

It takes a bit longer than usual to get to Midtown, but instead of a conversation like they usually have, it was filled with their shared playlist of classic rock and other similar songs. This was yet another item to the list of reasons why Tony is being weird this morning. He always wanted to know what was happening with Peter at school, talking to him about what Tony's day would be like, what movies to watch, etc., but there was nothing coming from the man except humming along to the songs. after a practically silent car ride, they arrive.

"Bye! Have a good day!" He calls out as Peter climbs out of the car.

"You too! I hope you have fun at those meetings!" Peter responds, trying to keep the sarcasm out of his voice.

"Probably not, but I appreciate the thought." The billionaire gives him his classic cocky grin before pulling away.

"Ned, you are never going to believe this." Peter immediately starts rambling the second he spots his friend.

"What?" Ned asks, excited at the prospect of getting some news about the avengers.

"Have you seen the news?" Peter asks, giving context to the story.

Ned starts nodding along enthusiastically, "The thing about the freeze ray gun?"

"Yeah!" Peter whispers, eyes wide.

"What about it?" The other boy whispers excitedly.

"Tony told me he had meetings all day after school for Stark Industries, but when I talked to Pepper, she had no idea what I was talking about." Peter explains, a wide eyed look on his face.

"So, what does that mean?" Ned asks, getting a little lost.

"He's been really cryptic about the whole freeze gun situation and doesn't want me to get involved, so I bet you he is going after him tonight!" Peter says a bit loudly, so they head towards their lockers.

"Omg, no way! Iron Man is going to go fight some bad guys and _I_ get to know about it!" Ned practically squeals.

"Ned! Focus! That means that I need to go with him." Peter explains, going serious.

Ned immediately starts shaking his head. "What? Peter, no. That is a bad idea."

"No, it's not! I can help him! He just doesn't understand that yet."

"He has fought lots of bad guys, Peter. If he doesn't think you should be out there, then maybe you should listen." The other boy explains, trying to talk sense into him.

"Ned! I have to help! I don't want Tony to get hurt!" Peter practically cries.

"Fine. So why are you telling me this?" Ned asks, finally on board with the idea now that he got to be involved.

"I need you to cover for me." Peter whispers as people pass him.

"How?" Ned presses, a bit more nervous.

"Tony will probably call tonight to make sure I am at your house. So, he needs to think I am there. Just… come up with an excuse." He breathes a sigh of relief now that he doesn't have to worry about his cover.

"Got it."

After school, Peter immediately raced back to the tower. He had to change into his suit and subtly swing back to the tower because he obviously didn't have a ride. It took him an hour, but luckily, he didn't have to stop to fight crime or anything on his way.

"Okay, just got to sneak into the tower and wait until I see Tony leave so I can follow him. No problem." He whispers to himself as he steps into the elevator.

"Hello, Peter. Welcome home. Would you like me to notify boss that you have arrived?" FRIDAY calls from the speaker.

"No! No, thank you." Peter quickly informs her.

"Alright. Is something the matter? Your heart rate is extremely elevated." She tells him as the elevator lifts up at a pace much too slow for Peter.

"Nope!" He says.

"Here is your floor." The doors open and he steps into the living area.

"Nice." He whispers as he begins to climb up the wall. Before he can make it to his room however, he hears footsteps. He quickly flattens himself to the ceiling near the door as the person comes closer.

"FRIDAY, call Elizabeth Leeds." He hears Tony say as the man enters the room.

"Hi Mr. Stark." He hears Ned's voice ring out. Thankfully, Tony had the call on speaker phone.

"Ned?" Tony questions, right below Peter. He holds his breath.

"Yes, sir! My mom just walked across the street to pick up some pizza, but she accidentally left her phone, so when I heard it ringing, I went to go see who it was to make sure it wasn't anything important, and when I saw it was you, I decided to answer. Sorry." The boy chirps happily.

"Is Peter with you?" Tony asks the boy, ignoring his rambling spiel before.

"Yeah, we were just working on our chemistry homework." _Solid explanation, Ned,_ Peter mentally cheered.

"Okay, can I talk to him?"

"Not right now, he just left to go to the bathroom."

Tony sighs and rubs his forehead at Ned's response. "Alright then, just have him call me when you get the chance."

"Bye." Tony hangs up the phone and plops down on the couch to work on something on the Stark pad. With that distraction, he is able to slip into his room.

By about six o'clock, Peter hears him call the Iron Man suit. He takes that as his cue and exits out the window behind him. He stays close enough to Tony to be able to follow him, but far enough away that Tony doesn't spot him. It takes a lot of work to keep up with Tony in the suit, but he manages. Eventually, he finds himself on a roof of a warehouse in Long Island. Unfortunately, Peter trips and knocks a loose can to the side, causing Tony to whip around.

"Peter? What are you doing here?" Tony asks, flipping up the mask.

"Well, I talked to Pepper and she mentioned that you didn't have any meetings, and even if you did, you wouldn't go to them unless she made you, so I put the pieces together and figured you were going after this guy, so I wanted to come and help." Peter says, puffing out his chest to look stronger and braver.

"I knew Ned was lying. He is a terrible liar. We should get that kid some lessons. Actually, no, this is good for me. Anyway, you are in so much trouble!" Tony practically yells at him.

"I just want to help!" Peter yells right back.

"By getting yourself killed?" Tony asks, scrunching his face up into a look of disbelief.

"By making sure you are safe! I can't lose anyone else, okay?" Peter finally admits.

"And I can?" Tony whispers to him, and Peter can't help but feel a twinge of guilt. "What do you think will happen to _me_ if you get hurt on this mission?"

"Tony, please. I promise, I will do whatever you say. Please, just let me stay." Peter practically begs as he walks closer to him.

"Since you are already here, fine. I don't want you to try to head home alone, especially in this area. But don't think I am dropping this." Tony sighs, and rubs his face. "Are you ready to go?"

"Yes." The teen arachnid nods.

"Got enough web fluid? Your suit is fully functional? Nothing broken? Have you eaten recently? You know how your metabolism gets." Tony lists off, making sure Peter is prepared for the mission.

"Ugh, yes _dad._ " Peter taunts unconsciously, though it makes both of them freeze.

After a pause of awkward silence, Tony moves on. "Okay, here is where the gun is being kept. We don't know if our guy is here, but the weapon is. We get in, get the device, and get out. Little to no confrontation if possible. You are going in with stealth. _Do not engage no matter what."_

"Okay." Peter agrees, though he is internally frustrated.

"Let me scan and see what we are up against." He lowers the mask and tits his head around to do what Peter assumes is the scan. "Okay there are three guys in there guarding the weapon. I'll go in as a distraction with guns blazing. While they are preoccupied, you crawl along the ceiling above them and try to find and steal the gun. Got it?"

"Y-yeah." The kid stutters accidentally.

He hoped Tony didn't notice, but of course he did. "Are you nervous?"

"A little." Peter decides to be honest.

"Sure you don't want to go home?" Tony asks one last time before it is too late.

"Absolutely." Peter agrees and pulls his mask back on.

"Then let's do this."

Tony blasts a hole in the roof and drops down. Peter can hear the sound of his repulsers, so he takes that as his cue to go inside. He carefully climbs through the hole and along the ceiling, similar to what he did earlier in the tower. He looks around the room and doesn't see anything, though he does feel a little colder towards his left side. That fact has to have something to do with the cold gun. Through the oddest game of too-hot-too-cold, Peter finds a locked door. He easily breaks it open with his super strength.

"I found it, Tony." He smiles slightly and reaches out for the gun when another person emerges from the shadows.

"Hey there little spider." The man whispers as he snatches the gun, right before Peter could get his hands on it.

"Shit!" Peter curses as he backs towards the door in hopes of escape.

"Kid, where are you?" Tony asks worriedly through the comms.

"In here! I-" He tries to shout out before he is quickly blasted back by a shot of freezing cold air.

"Spider-Man! Do you copy? Where are you?" Tony yells frantically in his ear.

"I'm-" he tries to respond, but he can feel his body going numb. "here..."

"Oh, kid. Can you hear me? Peter?"

Tony breaks into the room and finds Peter on the ground. The man with the gun is long gone and the other three are knocked out, so he focuses all his attention onto Peter. He gathers the small boy into his arms carefully before carrying him outside and launching them both into the sky. Now that there is nothing to do but race back and hope Peter doesn't die in his arms, Tony decides to call and get a doctor to meet them when they arrive.

"Bruce, how fast can you get to the tower?" He practically screams into the phone.

"I'm at the compound, so maybe an hour?" Bruce responds and Tony can hear him move around on the other end of the phone.

"That's not good enough. What about with the quinjet?" He presses.

"Fifteen minutes, but I can't fly it." Bruce explains, sounding defeated.

"Is there anyone there that can?" Tony suggests.

"Clint is here, but I'm not sure where." Bruce says, out of breath, and Tony can practically see him running around the compound looking for the archer.

"Get to the tower _now._ " Tony stresses as he slowly becomes more and more stressed.

"What is happening Tony?" Bruce asks, and he can hear the sound of two pairs of feet running across the floor.

"It's the kid." He tells him breathlessly.

"Heading up to the landing pad." It is about a minute later before Bruce and Clint update him. "Taking off now." Bruce says, though the billionaire can barely hear him over the sound of the jet taking off.

"C'mon Peter… stay with me. _Please."_ He whispers as he pulls the cold boy even closer to his chest. He is flying at least three times the speed that he did on the way there and it is quickly draining the reactor, though he doesn't really care at this point.

"T-tony?" Peter stutters out, causing Tony to look down, alarmed.

"Yes! I'm here kid." He explains, rubbing his back.

"I-I'm so cold." He continues. The boy is deathly pale, his lips tinted a dark blue. He is a shivering mess at this point, and frost coats the outside of his suit. Tony wants more than anything to turn on the suit's heater, but he knows from his limited medical knowledge that you can't heat hypothermic and frostbitten people up too fast.

"I know, buddy. I'm so sorry. I'm so, so sorry. We are on our way back home." The older man whispers out, trying to comfort the boy.

"Home." Peter repeats, a dreamy smile across his face.

"Yeah, Peter. Home. With all your Lego sets, the lab, Pepper, the avengers, and the rest of your stuff. All there waiting for you, so you gotta stay with me." Tony explains desperately trying to keep the kid's attention.

"'m tired." Peter tells him, and Tony's heart rate increases even more if that is physically possible.

"Don't go to sleep yet, bud. We are almost home." He tells him, trying to maintain eye contact and still fly straight.

"But it's cold." Peter insists.

Tony tries to give him a sympathetic smile, but it comes out as more of a grimace. "I know. I know, and I'm so sorry, but you need to stay awake. Stay awake because everyone is waiting to see you. Thor might even let you lift his hammer this time. Maybe Clint can help you learn archery, I finally think you're ready. So please, Peter, stay awake."

"Can't." Peter repeats.

"No, Peter. You can." Tony tells him, but it is futile at this point.

"G'night, Tony." Peter whispers, before passing out again.

"No, Peter." Tony looks back down at the boy and sees that he is out. "Peter!"

He immediately calls Bruce again. "Where are you?"

"We are almost there." He tells him.

"We are one minute away from the tower, what should I do?" Tony asks frantically.

"What is wrong with him?" Bruce asks, trying to think of solutions.

"He got blasted with a freeze ray gun." The genius explains.

"Okay…um…let me think." Banner stutters.

"My kid is _dying_ Bruce, think faster!" Tony screams at him, even though he knows it isn't Bruce's fault. It's his own.

"Put him in a tub of lukewarm water first. Not hot, or else it will heat up too quickly. I should be there by then to help with the next process." Bruce starts out slowly.

Tony adds, "Should I wake him up?"

"He's passed out?" Bruce asks, even more concerned.

"Yes!" Tony screams into the phone. He has tears streaming down his face at this point.

"Be careful with him right now, if you shake him too much it will cause him to go into cardiac arrest."

"I'm doing my best!" He insists, though he pulls Peter even closer to him.

"Stay calm!" Bruce says quieter to him.

"I am calm!" Tony snaps at him. He was definitely not calm.

"Is his heart still beating?" Bruce asks, hesitantly.

FRIDAY notifies him that the kid's heart is, in fact, beating. "Yeah, but it's weak."

"Okay. Have warm oxygen ready near him. By giving him warm air, it will help warm up his insides." The billionaire adds that to his internal list of things to do.

"Okay. Okay. We are here." Tony informs him as he lands.

"See you soon." Bruce tells him.

Without even removing the suit at this point, Tony flies into the bathroom and starts the tub. He takes off Peter's damp spider suit and carefully lays him in the tub the second the water is warm. "Okay kid, in you go."

As soon as he places Peter in the tub, FRIDAY alerts him. "Sir, Mr. Parker's heart has stopped beating."

Without even thinking about it, Tony climbs out of the suit and gets into the tub over Peter, still wearing his jeans and t shirt that he had thrown on earlier that day, and starts giving him CPR. He knows for sure he read something somewhere about how you need to give people with hypothermia CPR if their heart stops beating. In between beats, he is whispering things to both himself and Peter about how the kid will be okay and how there will be nothing to worry about. Bruce and Clint finally arrive and rush into the room to see Tony, soaking wet in both water and tears as he pumps the heart of the kid.

"Bruce! Thank god!" He looks up, wild-eyed.

"What's going on?" Bruce asks, rushing over to the pair.

"His heart stopped!" Tony yells frantically as he climbs out so Bruce can take over treatment.

"Okay, Tony. You need to breathe. Deep breaths in and out. Clint, help him." Bruce tells the other man, who carefully leads Tony out of the bathroom.

"C'mon, Tony. Match my breathing. Bruce has got him." Clint says as he takes slow and steady deep breaths in and out. Tony tries his best but can't seem to stop panicking.

After a little while longer, Peter is stable enough to move to the med bay and Bruce comes out to talk to Tony and Clint.

"Why isn't he getting better?" Tony whispers after having collapsed to the ground.

"Well, for starters, I'm not that kind of doctor, Tony. I know very little about frostbite and hypothermia." Bruce explains, cleaning his glasses.

"I know, but I didn't know who else to call." Tony sounded so broken that it hurt the other two present.

"I know." Bruce sighs, before continuing. "Also, there is another side effect of his powers."

"Yeah?" Tony asks, afraid to hear the answer.

"Well… Spiders have difficulty thermoregulating."

Tony closes his eyes and shakes his head. "No. No. _No."_

"Unfortunately, yes. I managed to get his heart beat regular and warm him up a little but tonight is very critical." Bruce sighs and collapses next to his friends.

"Oh, god." Clint breathes out.

"I'm sorry, Tony." Bruce stands back up and holds out his hand to Tony. "Do you want to see him?"

Tony, of course, did. He knew he wouldn't like what he saw but seeing the kid's lips tinted blue and his usually bright and rosy face deathly pale was still too much for him. "Oh, Peter."

"While you are here, can I check you out too?" Bruce tries, but Tony immediately shakes his head. "I figured. I'll be upstairs if anything happens. I trust you can watch him tonight?"

"Of course." He scoffs.

Bruce and Clint leave after giving Tony a little bit more support, leaving him alone with his possibly dying kid and pessimistic thoughts.

"Oh Peter, I told you to go home. I should've made you. Or not had us split up. If you had come with me and helped me with the bad guys first and then we took on the freeze ray guy together, then this wouldn't have happened. God, this is all my fault." A few loose tears escape down his face as he continues. "It should've been me. You are the purest, kindest person I have ever met, and I have done nothing but ruin everything and everyone. I guess even you now. It should've been me. It has been less than six months and already I've screwed it up." Tony whispers this and things with a similar sentiment over and over for a while.

He sits there for hours just watching the kid, making sure he doesn't stop breathing and his heart doesn't stop beating. It gets rocky at some points. Three times in the last two hours, Tony has had to call Bruce down because Peter has gone into cardiac arrest. Each time, the billionaire loses years off his life.

Tony thinks about May. The woman who trusted him with her nephew's – practically _son's –_ life and he has already ruined it. She could very well be seeing Peter very soon. He feels as if he has let her down. She was already nervous about him being Spider-Man in the first place and now look what happened. The only reason she let him keep going is because, as much as she had originally hated Tony, she knew that he was watching out for Peter and protecting him. He betrayed both of the Parkers.

Sometime in the morning though, Peter finally wakes up.

"Tony?" He croaks out, immediately causing Tony to jump.

"Peter? How are you feeling?" He asks him, letting the tears of relief fall down his face.

"Cold. And everything hurts." He lets out a dry cough and relaxes into the pillows with a look of discomfort. "Wha-"

"Shh, don't talk. Put your oxygen mask back on. We can talk about what happened later." Tony tells him, rubbing his arm.

Peter pats the bed next to him lightly in a desperate attempt to get Tony closer.

"What?" Tony asks, trying to decipher the movement.

Peter pats the bed next to him, more insistently this time so that Tony gets the message.

"Ugh, fine. I can't believe we are sharing a twin bed." Tony protests, though happily, as him climbs under the blankets next to Peter, so he can hold the shivering kid in his arms.

"You know," he coughed a little and sucked in some air before continuing, "you love me."

"Yeah." Tony smiled and looked down on the kid curled up next to him. "I do."


	18. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys!!! I just wanted to mention a warning: Tony does have a panic attack in this chapter. I know I did not mention this a few chapters ago with Peter, but I know I definitely should have in case it is a trigger for somebody, so just be careful.

Thanks to Peter's rapid healing, he would be fine in about a week. Just enough time for him to get his body temperature up to a healthy, not just stable, amount and help him regain his strength. Being bed ridden and weak for this long makes it difficult to go back to normal. The Avengers and Pepper had been in and out all week. Now that Peter was feeling better though, they all resumed to their daily lives. Pepper as CEO of the company in constant meetings and the Avengers with training in the compound and SHIELD missions, minus Bruce who stayed to monitor Peter. Rhodey had gone back to the military but still called to check in on the kid.

Peter was watching tv on the couch when Tony walked in. "Hey, kid. How are you feeling?"

"Fine." He responded, his eyes not leaving the tv screen.

"Care to elaborate?" Tony smiled at him before plopping down next to him.

"I mean, I'm still a little shaky, but totally okay to go back to school on Monday. Can I?" The kid asked hopefully.

"Luckily, Bruce agrees with you. You can go back to school." Tony tells him, already preparing for the response that follows.

"Yes!" Peter shouts loudly, pumping his fist in the air.

"But you are coming home straight after school, no matter what." The billionaire warns.

Peter's face falls slightly, "What about decathlon?"

"You'll have to take a week off."

"But-" He tries, but Tony cuts him off.

"Peter, please. Do not fight me on this. I do not want you to fall behind on your schoolwork, so you can go to school, but you were just _gravely injured."_ The man emphasizes.

"Alright. I guess I understand." Peter sighs.

"Thank you." Tony relaxes, and lets his eyes drift to the tv. "Now, what do you want to do for the rest of the day?"

"Don't you have a meeting today?" Peter asks innocently, before a knowing look spreads across his face.

"Shit." Tony says simply before hopping up and rushing to the elevator.

"Have fun!" The kid calls out after him.

Peters phone buzzes, and he glances down at it and sees that Ned has texted him twice.

The first one says: _Hey, man. You gonna be back at school soon? I'm dying here without you._

The second one reads: _MJ misses you too, though she would never admit it._

_Yeah, I know I'll be back on Monday._ Peter quickly types back.

Before he knows it, it is Monday morning and Peter is back at school.

"Hey, Peter! How are you feeling?" Ned asks him, quickly rushing up to talk to him.

"Fine." The other boy shrugs, pulling his books from his locker.

"I'm glad. I heard the flu can get really bad." Ned explains, the flu having been their 'cover' for his absence, as a week is a long time to be out and it is flu season.

"Luckily, all it took was a couple days of medicine and stuff and the weekend to recuperate and I'm ready to go!" Peter chirps, as he begins to walk to his class.

"How ready are you to do stuff? Like, you know… _spider-man?_ " Ned whispers loudly.

"Shhh, Ned! I honestly have no idea. Tony was pretty stressed out." He shrugs.

"Do you know what happened?" Ned asks him, eyes wide.

"Nope. I remember getting blasted by this weird gun and then waking up in the med bay."

"That sounds scary." Ned tells him with concern.

Peter shrugs, casting his eyes downward. "Yeah, it was. I think I might ask Bruce what happened while I was out, because whatever it was, it must have been really bad, because Tony has been walking on eggshells around me and can't really look me in the eye."

"What are you losers talking about?" MJ interrupts them.

"Hi, MJ. We were just talking about how great it is that Peter's back." Ned explains quickly.

The girl seems suspicious but doesn't press. "Yeah, I guess so. Anyway, see you guys in chemistry."

"Bye!" The two boys wave.

The school day passes rather quickly and uneventfully. Peter was sent home with a ton of work from his missing classes and two tests to make up that he needs to study for. Though, if he is being honest, it could definitely be worse.

"Hey, Tony." Peter calls as he enters their floor and takes a seat on the couch.

"Hey, kiddo. How was your first day back?" Tony asks, coming to sit next to him with a Stark Pad and a cup of coffee.

"It was pretty okay. I'm so glad that Flash has finally decided to back off a little." Peter sighs, focusing on the worksheet in front of him.

"He stopped bullying you?" Tony asks, both happy and surprised.

"I mean, no, but it isn't as bad as it used to be." The kid explains.

"I guess that's good." The genius relents.

Peter sighs, "I just hope he isn't doing it to anyone else."

"I'm sure you'd know. He isn't exactly subtle."

Peter giggles, "That's true." He pauses for a second wondering if he should approach this subject before ripping off the band aid. "Listen… I was wondering…"

"Yeah?" Tony asks, encouraging him to continue.

"How did the mission on Friday go?" Peter asks hopefully.

The billionaire sighs, "Peter, I don't really want to talk about this."

"Please? I got hurt and everything, so I didn't find out what ended up happening with the bad guy." Peter presses, even though he knows it is probably a bad idea.

Tony pauses before finally explaining dejectedly, "He got away, okay?"

The kid immediately exclaims without thinking, "Well then we have to go catch him!"

"What?" Tony gives him an incredulous look, "We are not doing anything. As soon as I get a lead, I am going after him. This fight is over for you."

"What? Tony, no! I am just as much involved in this as you are. I have to help you!" Peter fires back.

"Absolutely not, and that is final!" Tony demands, standing up.

"No! You cannot just isolate me in this tower and school. I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself!" Peter argues standing up to face the older man.

"Against thugs on the streets!" Tony explains.

Peter scoffs, "Are you saying I can't handle something like this? I am a superhero!"

"That's not what I meant, and you know it. You don't know what is was like on Friday, Peter. I don't want anything to happen to you!" Tony's voice goes softer as he tries to get through to the kid, but it is useless.

"You're not my dad!" Peter yells, before storming off.

Tony immediately goes down the lab muttering frustratedly under his breath. He starts trying to build something, but he is too worked up that he can't focus, and ends up throwing a wrench across the room. He feels a presence behind him and turns around to see the intruder.

"Get out, Bruce." He practically growls, even though he knows that it is unfair to take it out on the doctor.

"Tony, I just-" Bruce tries, but Tony cuts him off almost immediately.

"Get out!" He shouts.

Without another word, Bruce exits and heads up to the kitchen. As Tony gets lost in his thoughts and he remembers what happened the following week, he feels increasingly stressed. His heart rate speeds up and his breaths begin to become more and more frequent. He flashes back to his inability to feel Peter's heartbeat underneath his palms as he gives him CPR and feels his legs go weak. He stumbles over a chair and collapses into it. He can feel himself get lightheaded as he tries to get his breaths under control, but nothing happens. All he can do is here Peters weak voice saying _'m so cold, Tony_ and see him slowly die in his arms as he carries him. He wishes he and Peter would not get into this and that the kid would just understand that _Tony cannot lose this kid._

Peter Parker is currently in his room.

"Sir requires your assistance in the lab." FRIDAY announces to Peter, who is curled up in a ball in his bed, staring at his hanging suit.

"I don't want to see him right now." Peter brushes it off and frowns.

"He is currently-" FRIDAY tries, but to no avail.

"I don't want to see him right now! Mute, FRIDAY." Peter screams harshly.

Bruce Banner is in the kitchen.

"Dr. Banner, sir requires your assistance in the lab." FRIDAY tries for the second time.

"I thought he didn't want to see me." Bruce asks, already moving for the elevator.

"He is currently experiencing a severe panic attack, and as Mr. Parker is not responding, you are to be alerted." FRIDAY explains.

"Shit, Tony." Bruce rushes down the stairs to the lab.

He finds Tony leaning over his work desk, with shallow, rapid, breaths and tears streaming down his face.

"Come on, Tony. Breathe with me." Bruce puts his hand on his friends back in an attempt at comfort but is quickly brushed away.

"I'm fine, Bruce. I'm… fine…" He spits out, but with no real heat behind it.

"No, you're not. Come on. Match my breaths. In… out… in… out. Just like that." Bruce comforts, taking dramatic deep breaths.

"I don't need you down here, Bruce." Tony tries weakly.

"You are about to pass out. In my professional medical opinion, you definitely need me." Bruce insists, easing Tony into the chair.

"Fine." He relents.

"Can I ask what happened?" Bruce asks, walking over to the fridge to get Tony a bottle of water.

"I got into a fight with Peter. He wanted to help with freeze ray guy." Tony explains.

Bruce spins around to give Tony an incredulous look. "Are you kidding me?"

When Bruce offers him the water, he chugs half of it before elaborating. "Nope. I benched him and he got pissed. He said… never mind."

"Tony." Bruce presses.

"I have to get back to this, Bruce. SHIELD needs these designs by tomorrow." Tony spins his chair around from where he was facing Bruce to the desk behind him.

"What did he say?" The doctor asks cautiously.

"… that I'm not his dad." It is practically a whisper, but Bruce picks it up anyway.

"He said that?"

"Yeah, but I don't know why I'm freaking out about all of this. He's right. I'm only his guardian. I didn't even adopt him." Tony says, invalidating his feelings as per usual, in Bruce's opinion.

"It's okay to be upset by that, it was harsh." He justifies.

"It isn't even just that. He was telling me that he deserved to be out there helping and all I could see was him dying over and over again, and then I told him I didn't want anything to happen to him, so he couldn't go out there with me, and he said I wasn't his dad." Tony wipes his eyes quickly before Bruce can see.

"I think that-"

"I don't really care, Bruce. Please… just leave."

Peter makes it through the whole school day without having to confront his feelings about yesterday. He was running late today so the only time he saw Ned was during his classes and at lunch when they were with MJ. So, of course, the second they had a moment to themselves, Ned had to ask what happened.

"What happened with talking to Dr. Banner yesterday?"

"I didn't really get a chance. I got into a fight with Tony." Peter states, not looking at his best friend.

"About what?" Ned presses.

"He told me I couldn't help with freeze ray guy!" Peter says with frustration, clenching his fists.

"Oh." Ned says quietly.

Peter begins to rant, "I think that is totally unreasonable, I can handle myself! He said he 'didn't want anything to happen to me' even though I have been doing this thing way longer than he was in my life."

"Peter, maybe he's right." His friend says cautiously.

"What? Why are you taking his side?" The spider kid asks, giving the other boy a hurt look.

"You were out all of last week."

"It was just in case. Tony's overprotective." Peter emphasizes, though he is beginning to doubt that himself.

As if reading his mind, Ned asks, "Are you sure about that? Maybe something really bad happened to you?"

Despite how he felt, he wanted somebody to be on his side, so he brushes Ned off and heads towards where Happy is waiting, saying "I cannot believe you. I'll see you tomorrow."

Before he was out of earshot however, he heard Flash's squeaky voice. "Hey, Ned. Where's your best bud? Did he finally leave you now that he is Stark's son? Too good for you?"

"No, Peter is going home. We are good." Ned shrugs, continuing to head back towards the school.

"He usually waits with you." Flash presses.

Ned fires back with, "What are you doing? Stalking me?"

"Listen here you little nobody-" Flash starts but Peter has finally had enough.

"Back off, Flash." He insists.

A smile spread across the bully's face. "Aw, he did come back for his boyfriend. Though it's only a matter of time before-"

He doesn't get to finish his sentence before Peter's fist connects with his face.

"Peter!" Ned cries out.

"Shit!" Peter says, bring a fist up to his mouth.

"Peter, what the hell are you doing?" Happy swears as he runs over to where the teenagers are.

"Stay away from him, Flash." Peter says to Flash, before turning back to the driver. "Let's go, Happy."

"Tony's going to flip when he hears about this." Happy shakes his head as he climbs into the car.

"Let him." Peter shrugs, turning away from an unknowing Happy.

The rest of the drive to the tower is silent, though Happy immediately goes off as soon as they reach his floor.

"Hey, Bruce. Where is Tony?" Happy practically yells at the poor man.

Bruce proceeds with caution, "He locked himself down in his lab, why?"

"Peter punched Flash in the face." Happy says, looking towards the teenager with anger.

"What? Even with your super strength?" Bruce gives him a surprised look, as he knows the boy usually has more self-control.

"I just got angry, I guess." Peter shrugs.

"You didn't seem to feel bad about it then." Happy rolls his eyes.

"Well, now I kinda do." The boy casts his eyes downwards to the floor.

He feels a vibration in his pocket and pulls out his phone to see that Ned has texted him, _Thanks for standing up for me._

_Of course._ He shoots back, before he is forced to come back to the current conversation.

"Listen, I gotta go. Pepper's got another meeting in California tomorrow, so I have to take her to the airport. You got this, Bruce?" Happy asks, eyeing the young boy.

"Yes."

"Okay, then see you tomorrow." Happy gives Peter a stern look. "You better shape up, kid."

After a few seconds in silence, the doctor breaks the ice. "So, you punched a kid?"

"Yeah." The boy shrugs.

"Why?" Bruce questions.

"I was angry, and he made fun of Ned." Peter says simply, though regret was evident on his face.

"Got it. You know that can't happen again, right? You have super strength and next time you might not be able to control yourself." Bruce warns, heading into the living room.

"Yeah, I understand." He frowns, letting his backpack drop off of his shoulders and onto the ground.

"I heard what happened between you and Tony." Bruce smiles sadly at him from his new place on the couch.

"Let me guess, you agree with him?" Peter rolls his eyes before sitting down next to Bruce.

"You don't know what happened on Friday, Peter." Bruce tries to explain, but it is all lost when he sees the defiant look on the younger man's face.

"Then explain it to me." He presses.

"You got blasted with the freeze ray gun and had extreme hypothermia and the beginnings of frostbite."

"I figured." The kid shrugs.

"Did you know spiders don't thermoregulate?" Bruce asks, seemingly out of the blue, but Peter knows what this leads to.

"What?" He didn't know this.

"Yeah. I took a really long time to warm you up and we weren't sure you were going to ever wake up." The doctor explains carefully, which makes the color drain from the kid's face.

"Oh."

"That's not really the worst part though." Bruce says bluntly, trying to prepare the spider kid for the rest of the story.

"It gets worse?" The kid whispers, unable to believe what has happened.

"Unfortunately. Well, for starters, Tony had to fly you home for thirty minutes as you were dying in his arms and-" Bruce explains, but is cut off with a question from Peter.

"There's more?" Peter asks, surprised.

The doctor cautiously continues, "Do you know what I found when I got here to treat you?"

"How?"

"You were in the bathtub trying to warm up and Tony was over you frantically giving you CPR because your heart had stopped." Bruce finally explains.

"…no…" Peter shakes his head, as tears well up in his eyes. "So, he hasn't just been his normal over-protective self, he actually had me die in front of him."

"For a second, but yes." Bruce frowns at him.

"I need to talk to him. God, the things I said to him yesterday." Peter shook his head, unable to believe himself.

"If you just try to talk to him, I'm sure you two can work something out." Bruce tells him kindly.

Peter finally asks, "Where is he?"

"In the lab." Bruce tells him.

As Peter heads down to the lab, he can't help but feel ashamed. Not only had Tony gone through a lot during and after the mission, but also had to put up with his childishness about the situation. Peter could not believe he had driven away the only parental figure left in his life. He felt so guilty. He loved being Spider-Man and getting to help people so much, but it was not worth losing Tony over. He just hoped the man would forgive him.

"Hey, Tony." Peter calls, knocking on the door frame.

"Kid." Tony addresses, turning around to look at the boy who, quite frankly, was a mess.

"I just talked to Bruce." Peter starts.

"Oh?" Tony asks, with an eyebrow raised, wondering what exactly the doctor had told him.

Peter shuffles around anxiously. "I just wanted to apologize. I had assumed that you were just freaking out like usual because of your protectiveness, but now that I know that you had an appropriate reaction, I wanted to apologize."

"Bruce wasn't supposed to say anything about that." Tony says bitterly, though slightly relieved it was just about what had happened with Peter medically instead of what happened with Tony after the argument.

"Why not?" Peter asks, curiously.

Tony explains. "I didn't want to freak you out."

"So instead you just let me give you hate you didn't deserve?" Peter gives him a sad look.

"I just want the best for you, kid." Tony tells him, firmly, but kindly.

"I know. I'm so, so sorry. I shouldn't have said any of that stuff to you and I know that you care about me." Peter tells him, visibly upset with tear tracks under his eyes and his arms wrapped around his chest.

"It's really okay, kid." Tony tries to explain softly.

"No, it's not." Peter shakes his head as tears form in his eyes.

"Come here, Pete." Tony stands up and pulls Peter into a tight hug. "I forgive you. I understand how frustrating this must be for you. While I wish you had handled it better, I know I could've too."

"I'm sorry about what I said about you not being my dad, too." "I'm sorry if I'm about to make things weird but I want you to know that even though you are not technically my dad, you definitely filled that role for me."

"I feel like that too, kid."

"Any chance you could reconsider letting me help out with freeze ray guy?" Peter tries, though he knows it is probably a wasted effort.

Tony thinks for a minute before relenting. "Come up with a solid name for him and I'll consider it."

"Yes!" Peter cheers.

Tony quickly stops his excitement. "Don't get too excited though. You won't be in on the action or anything. You'll be… what is Ned's term… my 'guy in the chair'?"

"Better than nothing I guess." Peter shrugs, though disappointment is evident in his features.

"Now, what is this I hear about you punching Flash?" Tony asks, and Peter immediately groans.


	19. Chapter 19

Peter slides into the lab with a huge grin on his face. "Freezer."

"What?" Tony asks him, turning around to give him a confused look.

"That's the name of our freeze ray guy. Freezer."

"Okay?"

Peter puts his hands up defensively and explains, "I know what you're thinking, but I promise if you say it out loud in a creepy voice it sounds intimidating."

"Freezer." Tony does what he is told before relenting. "Alright then, I'll take it."

"Yes!" Peter pumps his fist.

"So, I need to track this guy for hopefully the last time. When we last went after him, I could just trace the cold signature left by the device as it leaves a very unique footprint. However, he has stepped up his game. We can't follow him in the same way, and I am trying to figure out why. If we can figure out how he covers something with that big a trace, we might be able to figure out the anomalies. Suggestions?"

"Freezer would've needed a strong conductor to hide it, right?" Peter asks, peering over Tony's calculations.

"Now you're getting somewhere. It definitely needs to be strong to hide something that cold. Do you know what the strongest conductor is?"

Peter though for a second, before replying "I think it is either silver or diamond."

"Well, we can rule out diamond because somebody who is a thief probably isn't super rich."

"That's a good point. So, is there a way to track large amounts of silver?"

Tony frowned, trying to think of something. After a few minutes, he spun around to face his computer. "Let me see… if I can just switch the perimeters… exclude those inconsistent fluxes… and there we go. A location in… Maryland?"

Peter gasped after looking at the screen. "You've gotta be shitting me."

"Hey, watch your language." Tony said instinctively before sighing. "God, I'm turning into cap."

"Tony! That's where Toomes' secret lair was!" Peter said tapping the screen.

"What? Are you sure?" Tony asked, taking a closer look at that area.

"I am ninety four percent sure."

"Wow, that is pretty sure. Nice work, kid." The billionaire patted the kid on the back.

"Thanks." He beams.

"I'm going to call my jet and we can leave as soon as possible."

"I get to come?" Peter asks, surprised.

"As backup. Remember? You stay at the hotel with the comms and the camera while I go in and do the work. Unless I am dying or dead, you stay at the hotel. Do you understand?"

"I guess so."

"Perk up. You at least get to go."

"I mean, I guess that's true."

"That's the spirit!"

Peter pauses, before asking, "Does anybody else know what is happening?"

"The Avengers are on standby as backup, but since they have all been busy with their SHIELD missions recently, I told them this didn't need to be a huge thing."

"What about Pepper and Rhodey?"

"Unfortunately, yes. Even though they have been in and out of town recently, they still had plenty of time to remind me how much I am screwing up."

"When did you screw up?"

Tony gave him a look. "Kid. The last time they saw us, you were passed out in a hospital room."

"Fair point. I still think you are doing the best you can, though." Peter relented.

"I don't deserve you." He shakes his head in disbelief. "FRI? Video call the Avengers Living Room." Pretty soon, the faces of a few of the avengers are on the screen. "Hey, guys!"

"Tony! We were in the middle of a game!" Clint cries out, throwing his wii remote on the ground in frustration.

"Yeah, yeah. I have stuff to tell you."

"Okay." Wanda says, heading closer to the screen.

"Well, Peter and I have our solid plan to catch Freezer."

"Who?" Clint asks, confused.

"I came up with a name for them." Peter chirps up from behind his mentor.

"Okay, just for the record, Frost Fire is better." Clint throws his hands up exasperatedly.

"No, it really wasn't. That sucks ass."

"Language!" Steve calls out.

"Man, I really did sound like that, didn't I?" Tony shakes his head.

Peter ignores him and elaborates. "Anyway, we have a solid plan to catch him. Tony has a pinpoint on his location, so tonight, we are heading up there. Are any of you going anywhere?"

"Wait, hold on. We?"

"Peter and I." Tony explains.

"You are bringing Peter?" Clint asks, giving the older man a look.

"Yeah. I am bringing Peter. Not Spider-Man." He clarifies.

"Are you sure about this?" Wanda presses.

"Absolutely not, but I am scared Peter will try something like last time if he isn't somewhat included. Between you and me, even though he seems sweet, he has a rebellious streak."

"Hey!" Peter cries out defensively.

"Anyway, how many of you are in town?" Tony continues over him.

"I have a flight headed out to see Laura and the kids at seven." Clint says.

The super soldier chimes in helpfully, saying "Thor is in Asgard still."

"Nat and Sam are still out doing God-knows-what for Fury." Hawkeye adds.

"Vis and I are here." Wanda pipes up.

"Me too. Is Bruce still at the tower with you?" Steve finishes.

"Yeah, but I am almost positive this won't be a code green." Tony answers.

"That's good. So we will just be on standby for the rest of the night?"

"Yeah, pretty much."

"Understood. Good luck, Tony."

"Thanks, Cap."

They disconnect the call, and Tony turns to the kid. "So, go get your stuff together. Lift off in three hours."

"How long is this flight going to be?"

"An hour maybe?"

"That's not too bad."

"Plenty of time for us to go over the plan. Are you sure you don't want to stay back?" Tony shoots him a teasing cry.

"Nice try."

They board the plane a little bit late thanks to Tony getting preoccupied with a project, but pretty soon the have lifted off. Tony sits across from Peter and works on his tablet. After about ten minutes, the billionaire approaches the subject of the mission.

"So, we get to the hotel at about five. Go get some dinner downtown, I know this really good burger joint. After that, we go back to the hotel. We can set up the comms and the video feed. From there, I'll take off and you patch in. I go in, kick some bad guy ass, steal the gun, and come back."

"What if something goes wrong?" Peter asks worriedly.

"Call the Avengers. If it is a time sensitive thing, they will tell you what to do. If it isn't, they can be here in thirty minutes."

"Fine." He frowns.

"You're here, aren't you? I don't think you understand how lucky you are to be here right now. I am so tempted to send you back."

"I'm not even in the action!" The boy protests.

"But you're close to it and that scares the hell out of me."

"I know. I'm glad I'm included though."

"Whatever. Glad we are on the same page. Now, you should probably take a nap. I want you to be in top condition when we get there."

"I will if you will." Peter retorts, tossing a blanket at Tony.

"Ugh. If that's what it takes."

It felt like only minutes before one of the flight attendants was gently shaking Tony awake. "Sir, the plane is landing."

"Thanks." He tosses the blanket that was draped across him back at Peter, effectively waking the boy. "Hey, kiddo."

"What's happening?" Peter asks, jumping up.

"Welcome to Maryland."

The plane goes down and they gather up their things. As they exit the plane, a car pulls up ready to take them to the hotel. Luckily, there was a hotel about twenty minutes from the airport and ten from the evil lair. When they enter the hotel, Tony is immediately catered to, which both embarrasses and amuses Peter.

"Hello Mr. Stark, may we take your bags?" One woman comes up in front of them.

"I've got them. Thank you though." Tony says, gripping the strap of his bag a little bit tighter.

"Man, they really suck up to you here, don't they."

"Perks of being famous."

They arrive at their room and quickly unpack their bags. As soon as they are settled, they begin working.

"Okay, pull out your laptop and let's get everything set up."

The two link the comms together, pull up the suit's feed on Peter's laptop, and go over the plan once more. After an hour, Tony is in the suit prepared for lift off.

"I'm heading out. Will you be okay in here?" Tony asks, looking around nervously.

"Yep. All safe and smothered." Peter retorts, cheekily.

"Shut up."

Tony gets ready to head out to the balcony when Peter cries out, "Please be careful!"

Tony looks conflicted for a moment, before heading back to the bed and wrapping Peter in a tight hug. "Love you, kid."

"Love you too, Tony."

The genius heads back out to the balcony, gives a quick salute, and takes off into the sky. Not even thirty seconds later, Peter heard his voice over the comms. "Can you see and hear me okay?"

"Perfectly."

Tony lines up his vision with the gas station, so Peter can see it clearly. "Is this the place? You recognize it, right?"

"Yeah, that's it."

"In I go."

Tony enters the place. It is dark and dusty, but he can clearly hear footsteps. He glances around trying to find out where they are coming from.

He gets ready to turn around the corner when Peter says, "There are two guys on your right."

He double checks his heat sensors in the suit and sees that the kid is correct. He was stupid not to check that before. He knocks them out with blasts to the chests before moving on.

"Thanks, kid."

He travels through the whole place, easily knocking out any of the goons that came his way, with Peter chiming in with various tips. He checked every room until there was only one left. He carefully opened the door and was met with nothing.

The voice surrounded him suddenly. "Oh wow, Iron Man really came for little old me."

"Where is he, Tony. I can't see him." Peter worriedly whispers in his ear.

"Yeah, you were putting lives in danger. Can't have that, can we? Bad for business." Tony jokes, glancing around carefully.

"Selfish and egotistical as always. Luckily, that'll all change soon."

"Duck!" Peter cries out but it isn't quick enough.

"Ah!" Tony yelps as he is hit by the blast of ice.

"Tony!"

Tony grumbles, but is relatively fine. He is iced down to the support beam, however.

"It's fine, kid. Suit can withstand it. Just a little stuck." The billionaire informs Peter.

"Can the suit melt the ice?" The kid offers.

"Yes! Perfect!"

As the suit starts to melt the ice on the outside, he is blasted again by the ice gun.

"Tony? How is it going?" Peter asks him, sounding more scared by the second.

"It's freezing the joints of the suit, kid."

He heard the sound of footsteps and flipped up his faceplate to see Freezer standing in front of him.

"Well, looks like you're a bit stuck." The man chuckled in front of him.

"Yeah this isn't the most comfortable position. Care to let me out?"

"Of course not. This is the moment I've been waiting for. The end of Iron Man."

He held up his gun to blast Tony one last time, which certainly would've ended him. The suit can only withstand so much. Right as Freezer charged up the gun for a final blast, a spider web appeared at the butt of the gun and it was ripped out of his hands. The weapon flew right into the hands of a spider themed hero.

"Spider-Man?" Tony asked in disbelief.

"Step away from him or you'll regret it." Peter said menacingly, aiming the gun at the villain.

"Do you even know how to work that thing?" He taunted.

"Yeah, I know a bit about tech myself." He shot the gun above Freezers head onto one of the support beams above him.

"You missed."

"Did I?"

"What?"

The beam above him crumbed, and a portion of the roof fell down, trapping him beneath the rubble.

"Your old buddy Toomes taught me that trick." Peter joked, tossing the gun from one hand to another.

"Of course. I knew I should've gone after you instead." Freezer muttered.

That threw Peter off his rhythm. "Why didn't you?"

"A couple reasons. One being that you already took down Toomes. If he couldn't do it, I probably couldn't either. The other is that I wanted you to suffer like the rest of us did. We lost someone important to our gig, you lose someone important to yours."

"You honestly thought that was going to work? With the rest of the Avengers being around?"

"I came really close. If it wasn't for you, you meddling kid."

"Okay, Scooby Doo. The police are almost here. Enjoy prison." Peter gave him a small wave as the cops flooded the scene.

With Freezer firmly placed in the back of a cop car, Peter went to check on Tony. He helped eject him out of the suit and pulled him to a standing position. Tony clapped Peter on the back with pride and a huge grin on his face.

"Nice work, kid. I'm proud of you."

"Thanks, Tony. Now, what do you say we get out of here?"

"Um…." Tony glanced back at his broken suit.

"Or I can swing back, and you can get a ride from the cops."

"That'll probably work better."

After thirty minutes, they were both back in the hotel changed out of their suits.

"Okay kid. Now that Freezer is taken care of, do you want to actually enjoy the night here in the hotel? I can get ice cream from room service." Tony chuckled, already knowing the answer as he climbed into the bed next to Peter to pick up the phone.

"Yes, _please."_


	20. Chapter 20

The team was gathered in a conference room so Tony could debrief them on what happened. Peter was, conveniently, at school. There were a couple things Tony had to talk to him about that he would prefer to not approach in front of the team.

  
"Apparently, some of Toomes' lackies were still wandering around out there, but without leadership, money, or resources, they were not as strong. One of his employees, having not found another job, tried to pick up the business again. Luckily, we shut down his lair and arrested the guy. Nobody, other than us apparently was harmed and the building was seized by the government, so there was no collateral damage. Currently, SHIELD is interrogating the man to find out is anybody else is still around. Did I miss anything?"

  
"No, I think that was a pretty complete report." Natasha nodded, satisfied.

  
"Why isn't Peter here?" Steve questioned, noticing the empty seat in the conference room.

  
"He's at school."

  
"Well, I know that, but why didn't you wait for him." The captain pressed.

  
"He was there, he didn't need to be debriefed."

  
"Tony…" Wanda trailed off, questioningly.

  
"He mentioned that the guy seemed familiar. I unmasked him, figured out his identity and stuff, and turns out he did know him."

  
"Oh, shit." Clint said from his spot in the corner.

  
"Yeah. So, I would like to talk to him about all of this privately."

  
"We totally understand." Steve told him, and the rest agreed.

  
Some things still did not add up. Was it just a suspicious coincidence that Toomes and Thompson knew each other or is there some secret crime circle happening with the parents at Midtown Tech? If it wasn't just a coincidence, then what is really happening? He had a feeling that Thompson would cave under any sort of pressure. He is a civilian, after all. If Natasha even looked at him he would probably spill his guts. Hopefully, it wouldn't come to that. Tony would just go see him in the custody of SHIELD and, best case scenario, he answered all of him questions.

  
Tony waltzed into SHIELD with no difficulty. People knew who he was and he was a consultant for Fury or something like that. The places he didn't have clearance, he just hacked into the security monitor and temporarily disabled it so he could slip inside. It wasn't until he actually reached Thompson that he was stopped.

  
"What is your business." The guard in front of the holding cell asked him.

  
"I'm here to see Thompson."

  
"Do you have clearance?"

  
He gave the guard – Warren, according to his name tag – a look. "Do you know who I am?"

  
"I need to see some sort of proof that you are allowed to be here."

  
"Patch me through to Fury." The guard shook his head. "You know what? I'll call him."

  
"What is it, Stark?" Fury growled through the phone.

  
"I'm here to see Thompson."

  
He could practically see the look on Fury's face. "I'm so tired of your bullshit. What's the reason?"

  
"I need to know how he got involved with this business. He said he knew Toomes."

  
"Fine. Let him through, Warren."

  
The guards tough look disappeared, and he stepped aside. "Sorry, sir."

  
"It's fine, you're just doing your job." Tony gave him a small smile before waltzing through the door.

  
"Stark. A pleasure." Thompson greeted him.

  
"Wish I could say the same."

  
"What brings you here?"

  
"I need to know how you got involved in this business."

  
"I told you. Toomes."

  
"I know who you are. I know about your family. I know about Toomes' family. You both had kids on the Midtown High academic decathlon team. That cannot be a coincidence."

  
"Fine. But listen up because I won't repeat it." He snarled and Tony mentally cheered at how easy this was.

  
Tony got back to the tower at two thirty, so he only had to wait around for Peter for about forty five minutes.

  
"Hey, Pete! How was school today?" He greeted as soon as the boy stepped out of the elevator.

  
"Great! Flash was out sick, so Ned and I didn't have to put up with any of his usual crap." Peter said happily, heading over to the fridge.

  
"Listen, there is something I have to tell you about that." The billionaire said hesitantly, making Peter freeze halfway through grabbing his soda.

  
"What? What's going on, Tony?"

  
"Maybe you should come and sit down."

  
Peter headed over to where Tony was and sat across from him on the couch. "Is it bad?"

  
"…it's not great."

"What does this have to do with Flash?"

  
"Listen, kid. I want you to know that none of this is your fault, okay?"

  
"What happened to Flash?" Peter insisted, getting gradually more worked up.

  
"Nothing happened to Flash! Just… his dad."

  
"His dad?" The kid repeated, confused.

  
"Harrison Thompson. He… is, or rather, was, Freezer."

  
"What?" Peters eyes bugged out of his head as his jaw dropped.

  
"Yeah."

  
"How did this happen? Why is everybody at my school's parent a villain?" Peter practically yelled, dropping his head into his hands.

  
"Well, there is a reasonable explanation for that part."

  
"What is it?"

  
"The reason he had resources and experience was because he worked with Toomes. Apparently, Thompson found out about Toomes business. Instead of turning him in, he wanted in on it. When Toomes got arrested, Thompson lost his job and struggled to get a new one, leading him to steal the gun. He went after me for revenge, but after that had a buyer lined up on the black market for a lot of money."

  
"Shit." Peter whispered.

  
"Yeah. He is in custody right now and going on trial later this week." Tony finished, putting a comforting hand on the boys back.

  
"What about Flash?" He spoke lowly.

  
"Luckily, the rest of his family had no part in it so, from what I heard, they are staying in New York. I don't know how true that is, though."

  
"Shit." The young boy repeated.

  
"I'm sorry. How are you feeling?" Tony asked, trying to get the boy to open up a little.

  
"I-I don't know. I really don't like Flash, but obviously I would never wish this on anyone. His dad is a bad guy and so he obviously deserves to be in jail, but…"

  
"Yeah, I know. I get it kid."

  
"Do you? Have you taken down not one, but two people you know and sent them to prison? Don't pretend that you know what this feels like, Tony!" The boy snapped before sighing. "I'm sorry. You know I didn't mean that. Please don't be mad at me, I'm really sorry."

  
"Hey, kid. It's okay. I know you are just upset." Tony comforts him, pulling the boy into a hug.

  
They sat there for a few minutes before Peter shook his head and stood up. He gave Tony a small smile that didn't reach his eyes before disappearing into his room.  
With Peter now filled in, he headed down to the training room to see the team.

  
"I talked to Peter." He rubbed his face, trying to alleviate his headache.

  
"Yeah? And how did that go?" Steve asked, pausing his sparring with Sam.

  
"Probably as well as you would expect."

  
"How does he know the guy?" Natasha asked as her and the rest of the team walked over to meet them.

  
"You know that bully Flash from the field trip?"

  
"Yeah?" Wanda answered and the rest of them nodded.

  
"Freezer is his dad." All of the mouths in the room dropped in surprise.

  
"Damn, that's not good." Clint shook his head with sympathy.

  
"I know."

  
"Wasn't the last villain he faced his girlfriend's dad?" Natasha asked and Tony nodded. They all sighed with sympathy.

  
"So where is he now?" Sam asked.

  
"In his room doing his homework. I'm going to talk to him later, but I figured he could use a little space."

  
"Yeah. Give him our support." Steve said, putting a comforting hand on Tony's shoulder.

  
"Of course. Thanks, Cap."

  
Tony tinkered in the lab for about an hour before he decided to go check on Peter. He stood in front of his door for a few seconds before hesitantly knocking. After hearing Peter's soft confirmation that Tony could enter, he pushed open the door. Peter was sitting at his desk working on his homework, but based on the way that Peter's hand was subtly shaking, Tony could assume he wasn't sufficiently distracted.

  
"How are you holding up?" Peter just shrugged, not looking up at the man. Tony walked over to him and put a hand on his shoulder, before saying softly, "What's going through that big brain of yours?"

  
"I just… feel bad." Peter eloquently put before laying down his pencil and facing the man.

  
"He was not a good guy, Peter."

  
"I know that, but I just am ruining all of these families."

  
"No, you're not. Harrison Thompson ruined his family. You saved other peoples. Imagine what could have happened had someone else gotten ahold of that gun."

  
"See, I know you're right, but still… Flash just lost his dad."

  
"I know, Peter." Tony remembered his conversation with the team earlier and told the kid, "Oh, and the rest of the team wanted me to give you their support and affection."

  
"it's fine. I'll get over it." Peter wiped a stray tear from his eyes and turned back to his desk.

  
"Okay. Well, if you need to talk, you know where to find me." Tony stuttered, not knowing what else to say, before standing up.

  
"Thanks, Tony." Peter whispered and the man gave him a soft smile that Peter hesitantly reciprocated.

  
Flash was back at school the next day. Peter hadn't seen him yet, but he heard the whispers and gossip about the boy and his dad ever since he entered the building. He had a few classes with Flash, but he was hoping he could avoid any negative encounter with the bully. Unfortunately, this hope only lasted until about one minute after Peter reached his locker.

  
"Penis Parker!" Flash's voice echoed down the hall as the bully stormed down the hall.

  
"Hey Flash." Peter told him, closing his locker and turning around to face the other boy.

  
"Don't 'hey, flash," me! You know what you did!"

  
"What did I do?" Peter asked innocently, but he knew exactly what this was about.

  
"It's all over the news you little asshole. Iron Man put my dad in jail!" He reached forward and pushed him back.

  
"What does that have to do with me?" Peter asked, crossing his fingers that this wouldn't end with his secret exposed.

  
Betty Brant, who was on the school committee, and Jason Ionello, who was friends with Flash, headed over to the pair confused and worried.

  
"Calm down, Flash." Jason put a hand on his shoulder, pushing him away from Peter before he did something he would regret.

  
"Yeah, Flash. Peter is only his intern. How does this affect him?" Betty Brant asked, helping defend Peter.

  
"he's a little liar. He isn't an intern with Tony Stark." Flash pushed.

  
"Tony Stark literally stood in front of the entire school and said it! Besides, that means that Peter still has nothing to do with your dad." Betty told him, giving him a 'duh' look.

  
"No, but that's the thing. He isn't lying about knowing Tony Stark, he's just lying about having an internship."

  
"Then how does he know him?" Jason asked him.

  
"Because Peter's aunt is dead, and Tony Stark is his guardian!" Peter's heart stopped. He felt Ned next to him tense up too.

  
"What? Flash that's insane." Ned tried to brush it off, weakly.

  
"C'mon Penis. You gonna let them think I'm a liar, too?" Flash snarled angrily, but it was clear that there were tears building in his eyes.

  
Peter sighed. "No, it's true. Tony Stark is my guardian."


	21. Chapter 21

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys!!! I'm back an hopefully updating more regularly. Thanks so much for still supporting me!! Also, I just posted a new story. It fully written, so you won't have to wait months for an update (like this one, oops). It's a 70's Stony AU so if that sounds the least bit interesting, you should at least check it out!! :)

A million questions started coming at Peter all at once. He was overwhelmed by the sudden noise and attention. He felt Ned put his hand protectively on Peter’s shoulder and vaguely heard him yelling at people to back off. Peter’s heart rate had increased significantly, and he felt a panic attack coming on.

He couldn’t believe he just told everyone that Tony Stark was his guardian. He wasn’t sure if they would even believe him. He doesn’t know if it would be worse if they did. All he knows is that it is only a matter of time before everybody in the entire world knows about Tony Stark having guardianship of some sixteen-year-old from Queens. The rumors would be wild, both in the news and in school.

Peter’s phone buzzed and he pulled it out of his pocket, ignoring the stares and still coming questions of his classmates. He pulled it out with trembling hands and barely managed to read the words on his phone.

It was a message from Tony: _Hey, kid. I’m outside. I’m parked by the tree to the left, so head over when you’re done with everything._

Perfect timing. Peter kept his gaze at the floor and pushed through the small crowd, leaving Flash gaping at him and Ned’s look of pity. 

He pushed through the front doors and practically sprinted towards where Tony’s car was parked. 

Peter gets in the car and turns to look at Tony. The man is wearing his signature sunglasses, despite the overcast weather.  Peter isn’t surprised. Tony is wearing a t-shirt and sweatpants, with grease stained hands, meaning he just left the lab. Peter finds an odd sort of comfort in that.

Their shared playlist is drifting quietly out of the speakers, the chorus of MGMT’s “Time to Pretend” filling the car. Peter loves this song.

“Hey, Pete. How was school?” Tony asks, starting the car.

At that single sentence, Peter starts to cry. Not full on sob, but he feels so overwhelmed and afraid that the tears just start rolling down his face before he can stop them.

“Hey, Peter, what happened?” Tony asks him, looking over in concern.

“They all know everything, it’s all over, I’m so screwed…” Peter says rapidly and incoherently.

“Slow down please, kid. I didn’t catch any of that.”

“I just talked to Flash.”

Realization dawned on Tony’s face. “Oh.”

“He came up to me screaming at the end of the day about how it was my fault his dad was in jail.”

“That’s ridiculous! He doesn’t even know you were there-” After seeing the look on the kid’s face, his anger died out. “What happened then?”

“Everybody around us was like ‘calm down, Flash’ and ‘literally how is this Peter’s fault’ and ‘how much power do you think an intern has to tony stark?’”

“So what did he say to that?” Tony had a sinking feeling he already knew.

“He told everyone that I wasn’t actually just an intern and that you were my guardian.”

“That little prick. They all believed him?”

“That’s just the thing – they didn’t. They thought he was crazy and upset.”

“Then what do you have to worry about?” 

“Flash said to me, ‘so what parker? Are you going to make them think I’m a liar too?”

“So you said he was telling the truth.” It wasn’t a question, because Tony already knew.

“Yeah.”

“Why?”

“Because his dad is in jail because of us, Tony. He is going to have a really tough home life and I didn’t want everybody at school to think things too.”

“His dad is in jail because he did bad things. That isn’t on you or Flash or anybody other than him.”

“I know.” Peter sighed and wiped the tears from his face. “Are you mad at me?”

“No.” Tony rested his head on the steering wheel for a moment before turning to look at Peter. “frustrated? A little. Proud? Definitely.”

“You’re proud of me?”

“This all happened because you were sympathetic. Even though Flash has been bullying you since middle school, you felt bad for him and wanted to make his situation better even if I made yours a hell of a lot worse. As much as I hate that now we have to deal with your secret getting out, I’m proud of how selfless you were. Not that I’m surprised.” He let a small grin spread across his face.

“Thank you.”

“Don’t thank me yet. We still have to go talk to Pepper.”

Pepper was less than pleased, to put it lightly.

“You exposed your identity because some little prick was bitter?”

“Um… yes?” It came out sounding like a question.

“And your entire school knows.”

“…probably.”

“I should go schedule a press conference, I guess. Announce it before one of the kids at your school sells the story.”

“Okay. Sorry for the trouble.” He squeaked and rubbed his arm sheepishly.

Pepper sighed before a small came across her face. She pulled him into a hug. “It’s okay. Don’t worry about it. It had to come out sooner or later, I’m just glad you were the one to say it and it was for something you believe in. We all support you, don’t worry.”

“Thank you.”

She disappeared into the elevator and so it was just him and Tony left. Peter turned to head towards his room and start his homework, but Tony called him back.

“There is something I should talk to you about. You know, before the press conference.” Tony led him over to the couch and they took a seat.

“Yeah?”

“Now that we are announcing that I’m your guardian, there will be a lot of pressure about you being the heir to Stark Industries.”

“The heir?” Peter questioned.

“It will need a CEO when Pepper and I are all old and wrinkly.”

“Bold of you to assume you aren’t old and wrinkly already.” He made a joke to buy himself some time to process what his guardian said before he crafted a response.

“Hey!”

“You want me to be the CEO of Stark Industries?” He whispered quietly.

“Only if you want to.” Tony looked Peter directly in the eyes before continuing carefully. “This isn’t something I want to force upon you. Trust me, I know how that feels. I promise this is only if you want it.”

He hesitates. “Could I change my mind later?”

“Of course.”

“Then yes.” Peter agrees.

“Yes?”

“I’ll be the heir.” His mind flashed back to a couple months ago when he played a fantasy video game with Ned. “This sounds like some medieval fantasy movie.”

“It really does.” Tony laughed before clapping him on the shoulder. “Anyway, I should go help Pepper. Get started on your homework or I’ll sell all your Legos.”

“Okay.” Peter said with a smile.

A couple hours later, Tony found Peter diligently working on his homework. It wasn’t unlike him to focus on school and stay up to late, but based on the frown etched across the kid’s features, Tony could guess there was more to the story.

“You should go to bed.” He said from his place leaning against the door frame.

The boy sighed and rubbed a hand across his tired face. “Yeah, you’re probably right.”

“The press conference is scheduled for tomorrow after school.”

“That soon?” His voice cracked, probably against his wishes.

“Yes, unfortunately. We had to make sure we released it before anyone else.”

“Okay.”

“Are you going to be okay at school tomorrow?”

Peter hesitated before responding. “I hope so.”

“Do you want to stay home?”

“No, I should probably go and face it.”

“That’s my boy.” Tony smiled, and Peter returned it half-heartedly. 

“Goodnight, Tony.”

Tony reached over and ruffled the kid’s hair, much to his dismay. “Night, kid.”

They sat in the back parking lot at the school fifteen minutes before the first bell would ring.

“Ready for school?” Tony asked, watching Peter pack up his backpack.

“As I’ll ever be.”

“Good enough. If you need anything, call me, okay? I have meetings today, but I can easily get out of them for you.”

“You don’t sound sorry about that.” Peter told him with a grin.

“You know me so well.”

Peter climbed out of the car with a small smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes. He turned, waved to Tony, and disappeared into the building. 

Flash came up to him the second Peter got to his locker.

“Look who decided to show up. Peter Stark.” The other boy taunted.

“That’s not my name.”

“You’re not a Stark?” Flash asked, not quite keeping the surprise from his voice. 

“My name is still Peter Parker.”

“Ha. Guess Tony Stark didn’t want to fully commit. Can’t say I blame him.” The bully huffed.

“Hey Flash, at least his family chose him. Yours got stuck with you!” Ned challenged coming up behind Peter.

Not having anything to say to that, Flash stomped away. Peter sighed, “Thanks, man.”

“No problem. It was a mediocre blow, but at least it did the trick.”

Before Peter could respond, a small brunette girl in their grade wandered up to the pair. Peter recognized her as Jenny Carson.

“Hi Peter. I heard you’re good at chemistry. Can you help me with this problem?”

“Yeah sure.” He glanced over the sheet for a minute before noticing the error. “The charge of iron is supposed to be three, not two.”

“Oh my gosh, that was such a stupid mistake. Thank you!” Jenny chirped.

“Yeah... no problem.” Peter said back, confused.

As soon as she walked away, Ned spoke. “That was weird.”

“Really weird.” He agreed.

The bell rang before they could discuss it further. The duo headed into their calculus classroom where more of their classmates were gathered around Peter and Ned’s usual desks.

“Hey Peter! What’s it like having your dad be Iron Man?” Sally Avril asked from her seat in MJs usual place.

“Well Tony isn’t my dad-” Peter tried, but the attempt was futile.

“Have you gotten to help work on his suit?” Cindy Moon added, with wide eyes.

“A few times but I mostly just-” Once again, he was cut off.

Betty Brant was practically out of her seat she was so eager. “Have you met the Avengers? Do you know Thor?” 

“You’re in my seat.” MJ growled at Sally before Peter could address Betty.

“I don’t see your name on it.” MJ shot her a glare and the other girl rolled her eyes but obeyed. “Fine, jeez.”

“Now, can the rest of you shut up? I’m trying to actually focus on school.” She snapped, and they all returned to their seats.

“Ugh, whatever.” Cindy retorted.

“Talk to you later Peter!” Betty waved.

“Thanks, MJ.” Peter whispered as he sunk into his seat with relief.

“Whatever, loser.” She said, but he knew that was her way of saying ‘you’re welcome.’

Lunch was no different than math, much to his, Ned’s, and MJ’s exasperation.

“Ew why is everybody sitting at your table?” Flash asked, as even he was frustrated.

“I have no idea. It could be that they want to know about living with Tony Stark and the Avengers.” MJ taunted.

“Dammit.” He frowned.

Ned was practically glowing. “Looks like your plan backfired, Flash!”

“Not if I have anything to say about it.” He growled before heading over to the table. “Why are you all so obsessed with Parker?”

“It’s Stark, Flash.” Betty corrected.

“Actually, it’s not.” Peter said from behind Flash.

“Because his dad is Iron Man. Isn’t that cool?” Sally said with a dreamy smile.

“Not really. He put my dad in jail, remember? I’m probably not going to see him again? Because Tony Stark put him in jail?” Flash reminded them.

“Oh.” Cindy sighed.

“Yeah. That’s what I thought.” Flash said and all the girls followed him back to their usual table.

He can't believe the loyalty of these people. Flash's dad did something very illegal and dangerous, but because it's Flash, they make Tony seem like the victim. It's ridiculous. People weren't this bad when the news of Toomes came out. Although, Spiderman did get some backlash for that at his school, too. At least he didn't have to put up with them anymore, it was exhausting.

“As much as that conversation physically hurt me, I’m so relieved that they are all gone.” Peter sighed. “I’m going to go get my lunch.”

“Get me an apple!” Ned called after him.

Before Peter could respond, his spidey-sense tingled, and he was suddenly flying through the air. “Ah!”

He hit the ground with a thud and looked up to see one of Flash’s friends, Seymour O’Reilly, standing over him. “Aw, poor Peter Parker. Are you going to put my dad in jail too?” 

He stood up, brushed his pants off, and slowly walked out of the cafeteria and to the bathroom. He felt his phone buzz in his pocket right as he reached his destination.

_How’s it going?_ Tony asked.

_It’s a little bit rough, not gonna lie_

_Do you want me to pick you up?_

_No, I got this_

_Okay. Just let me know if anything changes._

“Why did your dad put Flash’s dad in jail?” Cindy asked when he reentered the hallway.

“I don’t know. Tony doesn’t talk superhero stuff with me. You’d have to ask Flash.” He responded simply.

“You don’t have to be so rude about it!” She scoffed before turning away.

Peter practically collapsed into the passenger seat of Tony’s car.

“Today sucked.” He groaned.

“I’m sorry. What happened?”

“Everybody wanted to talk to me, and it was so fake. Then, Flash brought up again that his dad was in prison and so everybody either avoided me like the bubonic plague or

made rude comments.”

“That sucks.” His guardian agreed.

“No kidding.”

“Do you mind if I talk to you about press conference stuff?” he pressed carefully.

Peter waved him off, “No, go ahead.”

“I want us to get our story straight before we go up there. What have you been telling people?”

“I was your intern and we pretty much bonded so when my aunt died you took me in.”

“Perfect. You know, I don’t have any other interns.”

“I won the robotics contest last year for New York which caught your attention. Then, when you had an interview with me, my winning personality won you over.”

“Amazing. With that charm, they are all going to love you.” Tony smiled at him.

“I really hope so.”

They were met by Pepper as soon as they reached the door to the conference room. “Are you two ready to go?”

“Yep.” Peter answered.

“Okay, I’ll head out and introduce you guys, then we can get right into it.”

She headed out onto the stage and flashes went off everywhere as the room fell silent.

“Hello everybody. Thank you for coming. As most, if not all, of you know, my name is Pepper Potts and I am the CEO of Stark Industries. I have called you all here today to announce something especially important about Tony Stark and the future of the company.”

“I love you, kid. I’m so proud of you.” Tony whispered into his ear before heading up to join Pepper.

“Hi everybody!” Tony said into the mic with a grin. “I’m Tony Stark, and I would like to call up another very important person named Peter Parker.” Peter came up to stand next to him, and Tony put a comforting hand on his shoulder. “I am, as of a few months ago, his legal guardian.”

“Hi!” He waved at them nervously.

“As of right now, he is the heir to Stark Industries. That may change though. You know how kids are. Any questions?” Tony asked and practically every hand in the room went up. 

“How old are you Peter?” One shouted.

“I am fifteen years old.” Peter said into the mic.

“How did you meet Tony?” The next jumped in.

“I was one of his personal interns.”

“How did he end up with guardianship of you?”

He stuttered a bit, turning a shade paler. “My aunt d-died, and I didn’t really have anybody else.”

“What is it like living with a billionaire and superhero?” A blonde woman in the front asked.

“Surprisingly domestic. We watch movies, eat ice cream, regular people stuff.”

A grey haired, old man in the middle of the chaos was picked next. “How do you feel about Ms. Potts?”

“She’s the best, really. Definitely my favorite of the two.” He stage-whispered to the crowd who erupted with laughter.

“Hey!” Tony protested, but it was weak and the fond smile on his face didn’t help either.

“Are you planning to adopt him, Mr. Stark?” The last question of the day went to a dark-haired man towards the back of the room.

Tony froze and thought for a moment before answering carefully. “That is a process we have not started.”

“I think that is all the time we have for today. It’s a school night.” Tony blew them all a kiss before shepherding Peter off stage. “Thank you all for coming.”

“How do you think that went?” Peter asked, bounding on the balls of his feet nervously, the second they were off stage.

“They loved you kid. The press will have nothing but positive things to say about you.”

That seemed to please the kid. “What about you? Are you good?”

Tony shook his head. “… probably not. That’s nothing for you to deal with, though.”


End file.
